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Surveying the "Troops"
Heart Streams in Dry Land11/21/93
As I go walking
Like a sower
Scattering seeds
On unknown ground
On a misty day
In falling rain
I pull from my inner self
(My bursting heart)
Feelings
Painful and Wonderful
Casting
Words to the Wind
With flowing tears
So deeply held
Inside
A sparkling spring
Of sobs
Comes rushing forth
Nurturing pregnant thoughts
Wellsprings of life
To barren soil
In mystery.
How can
My unknown heart
Sustain
Such
Painful
Treasured
Bursts of Glorious Blossoms
Coloring Parched Desert
Rainbowlike
After a thunderstorm?
Blossoms in the desert.... Carry on!
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Good to see you back at it, Thera.
I expect a few more shortly - it may take time for the word to get out.
March 30, 2009 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
As I said at OGD's blog:
Namaste.
(There's a password!)
Flower Power - our motive force. Flower is in charge of that. (if she wants it!)
Heart Power too.
March 30, 2009 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's an original photo I took some years back.
March 30, 2009 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I love it! Please never change it. It's a favorite!
March 30, 2009 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
I could probably be talked into sending you a copy...
March 30, 2009 7:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe you could get PCA to help you post it somehow on the web so anyone could have a copy. Otherwise.... we'll figure out a method. :)
March 30, 2009 8:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, Thera, as much as I hate the thought of you having a burr under your saddle, it's good to have you with us, if only for a day or two at a time...
Seems like the inmates are running the asylum.
March 30, 2009 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Life is good, stilli. Even if sometimes my own idealism wears me out, I am ever appreciative of those who try to make the world a better place. The poem above came out of great suffering related to my work with people who were themselves suffering. It's kind of self-portrait - from long ago. I've been thinking of posting it for a while. Challenges help us to grow. Some would have us stifled. There is a quote from Solzhenitzen that I have long pondered from Cancer Ward - where he points out the secret to happiness:
I have to get cracking on a blog I have in mind - related to that. Related to the people who are able to contribute to passing along what really matters in life.
March 30, 2009 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
As an inmate in the asylum, I represent that remark.
March 30, 2009 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Asylum. That's the perfect image!!!!
March 30, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've never been any good as a follower, Thera, but I'll stand by your side. When I agree, count on my support. When I disagree, you'll hear my voice in your ear. Either way - my heart is with you.
March 30, 2009 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
I never wanted followers, my dear. You've exactly described what I prefer myself!
This was never intended to be a call for followers. It was posted in response to OGD's blog and a comment he quoted - suggesting I was leading rabid troops! (God help me, I'm a pacifist!)
March 30, 2009 6:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I apologize for being unclear, I never once thought of your post as a call for followers. I read OGD's post, so am aware of the genesis of yours. Frankly? I didn't care for the subject matter of his and think yours would have been just as beautiful by letting the poem suffice.
I'm not sure if I've taken a moment, yet, to tell you how absolutely lovely it is to see your voice again. I hope you're well, and happy.
March 30, 2009 6:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm seriously considering removing that unnecessary link. In fact I'm off to do it now....
Bless you, my dear.
March 30, 2009 8:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
A beautiful poem from a beautiful soul. You smile upon those whose burdens you carry, even as you struggle under the load. We are blessed. Peace.
March 30, 2009 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, dear Other Shoe. That means a lot!
March 30, 2009 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I second the OTHER SHOE by the by. Spring. It is even making its way up here.
I got to get Flower over here. She was almost apologizing for her garden. I told her Voltaire would be proud.
March 30, 2009 6:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, Flower please....
March 30, 2009 6:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I liked the end of your poem the best, TheraP.
Coloring Parched Desert
Rainbowlike
Blossoms in the desert are an unexpected reward after wandering in same, eh?
March 30, 2009 11:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
We got to see the desert bloom in the southwest! Especially in Joshua Tree National Park. I had always wanted to see that - and by a miracle it rained a lot a few weeks before our trip began.
It was stunning!
I had written the poem long before then. There is a lot of symbolism in the desert. I'm glad you understand.
March 30, 2009 11:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, dd. I never apologize for my gardens because I know they are giving their best effort in conditions that are sometimes not very favorable. I appreciate everything that grows, even the weeds. And I never apologize for being only a gardener these days. It was a personal choice and I do not regret for an instant un-becoming the things I used to be.
Now, this Voltaire guy...wasn't he the feller that kept getting thrown in prison or kicked out of Frawnce or something like that? ;o)
March 30, 2009 10:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Simply beautiful.
Thank you, Thera.
March 30, 2009 6:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm glad you liked it, LisB. I really am. :)
March 30, 2009 6:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's a nice poem. But I'm not sure what the troops are being rallied for. Is some part of what's happening here just understood by longtime posters? Could someone fill in the blanks for me? Thanks.
March 30, 2009 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thera's riffing off a comment made by jem here
March 30, 2009 7:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Welcome Doomer! And sorry for the confusion....
March 30, 2009 8:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
A comment that was related to a small group of posters (sometimes led in spirit and deed by TheraP) to drown out all dissenting voices at TPM as being part of a republican conspiracy to "pollute" left-leaning blogs.
While the tendency has dropped off of late, these things bubble to the surface every now and then as one or another of that group gets pissed about something I have said. Not sure how I picked up a starring role in their fantasy, but there you go.
Cheers and welcome! There is actually much less drama around here than this sad detour makes it appear.
March 31, 2009 7:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thera, you came back. And such a nice way to return too. ;)
March 30, 2009 7:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you - both personalities! ;)
March 30, 2009 8:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I thought it was just a nice, sweet poem. Seriously. Was it related to that massive teardown thread run by ogd? OY. I had no freaking idea.
April 2, 2009 1:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Crap! And here I have been following Markos' Ronnie Raygun Republican mind-meld marching orders for liberals all this time. I didn't know he had passed you the torch, TheraP?
Readjusting my mind-meld receiver...
March 30, 2009 7:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL! ;0
Mind-meld.... never got mine!
March 30, 2009 8:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
TheraP, I spent the bushco years being stifled, self-censored and scared to say the things on my mind. My daughter was in SOHO on 9/11. She is okay, but changed. It is only now that Obama is here, is elected, and I recently discovered this site and the people on it that I feel freer to express my thoughts on political realities. I just wrote before, to myself. I’m still learning how to write to others. Most people here have respect for ideas and I value that very much. In fact, it has dramatically changed my life.
(Kudos to Flowerchild,) I have spent years in the organic garden both really and metaphorically trying to learn to appreciate the healing nature can bring to us. Translated it may mean that the new growth is fed by the garbage. When a poison is introduced it is infectious to the new growth. But we live in a world where many poisons abound and it’s so hard to keep them out. We can, and do serve as filters for these ideas. And some filters are stronger than others – you know who you are. Here we are thriving and making a healthy, if imperfect compost. And just look at the colorful flowers we grow! (And I’m not talking about BullS##! – although it can be a good fertilizer.) Your poem says it way better but thought I’d add my mulch to the appreciation to help prevent erosion.
March 30, 2009 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bless you, stratofrog. You are already someone we could not do without!
March 30, 2009 8:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you TheraP.
Bless you too.
March 30, 2009 9:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Compost?
Wot?
Nice, Thera, made my Monday ever so much nicer.
March 30, 2009 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good to see you, bwak! :)
March 30, 2009 9:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
TheraP - when was the last time you spoke to one of our "Troops"??
March 30, 2009 10:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hello, troop! ;)
Ask not for whom the blog tolls. It tolls for thee.
I welcome all who come in peace.
Namaste.
March 30, 2009 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
No really, I was being serious. When was the last time you spoke to one of the US military members that spent time in the Middle East?
March 31, 2009 6:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
When was the last time you "spoke" to one of our troops? Where have all the soldiers gone? Gone to flowers? Everyone?
The garlands wither on your brow,
Then boast no more your mighty deeds;
Upon death's purple altar now,
See where the victor-victim bleeds.
Your heads must come
To the cold tomb;
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in their dust.
-- James Shirley
"The Glories of our Blood and State"
****************************************
Simonides of Ceos
by
Justice Putnam
On the fields of Marathon
Lay the withering
Brave
Farmers and boys
In a flowering
Grave
(Markris Yialos—Crete, Greece)
© 1986 and 2003 by Justice Putnam
and Mechanisches-Strophe Verlagswesen
**************************************
A Windy Day in Normandy
by
Justice Putnam
Your floral-print dress
A breeze across fields
Of Sunflower and Lavender
You told me the story
Of the tragedy of
Your family
Your grandfather on
His mailman bicycle
The delivery of
Resistance correspondence
The fear of discovery
(The inevitable retaliation
Against the village
An Uncle hung
In the Square
A few weeks short
Of the liberation)
I watched your tears
As you prayed near
The soldier multitude of
White crosses and
The occasional
Star of David
Here and there even
An alabaster Crescent Moon
You cried for them all
As the tournesol
Faced West
Your dress clung in folds
And your red hair
Framed the History
Of your familial grief
(Saint Ceneri, France)
© 1994 and 2007 Justice Putnam
and Mechanisches Strophe-Verlagswesen
March 31, 2009 12:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Not so bad yourself Justice, not so bad yourself.
March 31, 2009 12:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Justice P, I thank you for putting these poems here. (I will always treasure that.) Please do it any time.
March 31, 2009 8:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
TheraP, if you are looking for somebody with Heart Power, there's a chicken with a pitchfork that's got a lot of it. ;o)
March 30, 2009 11:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm picturing the tiny but POWERFUL pitchfork! ;)
March 30, 2009 11:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
(pokes Thera an Flower)
I'm buying stock in pitchfork companies.
bwaahahahahak!
March 30, 2009 11:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder how many pitchfork start-ups there are... I bet the Chinese govt is limiting them over there... So maybe they'll start up here.
March 31, 2009 8:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Chickens know where the worms are.
Here’s to one of my favorite filters.
No offense intended, just some great pickin’ by James Burton.
Hey Bwak, its a style!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKBQdvLv0I0&feature=related
March 30, 2009 9:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
He got me a leetle nervous when he choked the, er, fretboard.
=D
Appreciated that, for sure. You rawk!
March 30, 2009 11:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Beautiful poem, Thera...
March 31, 2009 12:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, Justice. That means a lot.
March 31, 2009 8:47 AM | Reply | Permalink