Birch Island Books

It’s white out there and I can only begin to express the little thrill, excitement, rush of joy!
Snow is one of the great healing balms.

Between islands full of trees and brush and beauty.
Through slightly warm water
Over beige sand.

That was it.
The whole dream.
Swimming, stopping to rest, swimming again,
and the sun never ceased to shine down.

follows me through this day –
a wonder and a mystery and a joy and a Spark.

Thank you, Lauren,

for the story of a small silver fox.

I read a thing yesterday
that made me sick at heart.

Time to put the armor back on.

The dog-snuffles
and daughter-footsteps,
and coffee-pot gurgles,
and soon it becomes a simple celebration of hats and kibble and walkies and teeth and baths and gentle chatter and user questions and eternal questions about milk.

and he has roared and stretched luxuriantly
and shown his sharp teeth and stretched down for another nap,

Stretching Time out in such a way,
that several days share one sleep.

It’s very different from the frenzied packing-everything-in days.

I am grateful for yesterday – the day when we said farewell to my retiring doctor,
The day I spent knitting,
The day I spent teaching and grading papers,
The day I spent with loved ones.

Thank you, gentle day in October, for your gentle way with Time.

They dance before me — or hide behind veils —
Who is this circle?
What do they know of themselves?
What do they not know?

Who is in this Family and who is not? Who lives
within these walls, if body is nowhere near as important as spirit?

Who are they to me?
Perhaps that’s the question.

And whom do they need me to be to them?

Today the stillness,
Today the emptying,
Flow out,
flow out,
flow out…

I empty myself
— not for some other purpose,
because it is good to do so.

Let go,
let go,
let go.

Breathe
all
the
way
out.

Slipping closer, closer,
shedding her skin

But still fresh and silver.

Sometimes it’s all made of mistakes,
from errors in judgment
to hate-filled genocide.

From the life I’m walking
To the history of shame.

To the countless individuals.

So much comes down to keeping your eye on the ball.
Mamaidh throws it this way two times in a row and then we assume it’s going this way,
but then she calls, “Look!”
and it’s still in her hand,
and we run all the way back to her,
and then she throws it that way!

Also, woofing at the ball does not make it go.

Friends, I’m thrilled to announce a new book – a collaboration with my dear friends Marie Everett and Lauren Strauss – and the new Moonlight Meander series.

Moonlight Meander presents not only poetry but rituals and spiritual practices for daily living and some amazing archetypal storytelling. Live your mythic life with us.

Moonlight Meander: Hunter’s Moon is designed specifically to match the dates and energies of October 16, 2020 to November 15, 2020, a lunation which includes the full blue moon on Samhain. The fact is that this day-book can be used during any cycle from dark of moon to dark of moon for wellness, spiritual exploration, and celebrating our connection with the forces of nature.