Mojo Monday ~ Autumn Is...

Autumn Beauty Collage - photos by Michelle Fairchild

I find beauty and things to delight me in every season.  Our natural world is an artists dream.  Just look around and you can see how Autumn knows how to put on a show.  She is vivid and rich, the hues of yellow, orange and red sometimes shocking even in their glory.

Already this season our family of four, while on a weekend jaunt out of town, stopped in Suisun City at Larry's Produce.  I am almost reluctant to share about it publicly, thinking it might be better to keep it a secret.  The market is already a wonderful place to pick up produce during the late spring and summer months, but it becomes even more festive in my eyes in the fall when the pumpkins, squash and gourds arrive.  Here is a sample of the delights to be had at the outdoor market.

Larry's Produce - Photos by Michelle Fairchild

Living in Northern California in a more rural area there are also farms that transform into festive destinations in the month of October.  Just this past Friday I went on a field trip with my daughters 2nd grade class to a local farm where we went on a train ride, a wagon ride, picked pumpkins right off the vines, bounced on a trampoline, shot corn cobs out of air cannons, wandered through a corn maze and watched little piggies race.  

Hawes Farm - photos by Michelle Fairchild

Not only are the images about Autumn stunning, but so can be the words of writers who wax poetic about this season and its golden abundance.   Here are some delightful reads for you to enjoy.



In my exploration of all tings Autumn I also came across this sentimental creation by Cathy Cullis called Fragile Things.

fragile things

autumn leaves      seedpods

feathers      rain clouds

fading photographs

poems

my heart

Fragile Things by Cathy Cullis

Have you experienced any Fall fun yet?  

Here is a list of some ideas to get you going.  

Consider writing your own poem about Autumn or simply a list that begins with Autumn is...

Grab your camera and go for a drive or a walk and capture some of the fall color in your area.

Pick up some pumpkins and colorful gourds at the store and create a display on your porch, dining room table or altar.  

Is there something you love best about this season?

Mojo Monday ~ Mary Anne Radmacher On Setting One's Own Sail

HONEY ALARM! 

by Mary Anne Radmacher

I amused clients today at a trade show.  While engaged in conversation, suddenly an alarm sounding like a motorcycle engine, birds chirping,  or chimes would  sound from my iPhone.  I had preset  alarms to sound throughout the day to remind me to SET MY OWN SAIL.  It’s a process I use when I know I am going to be very busy and really externally focused.  I use systems that remind me to see the joys, to act from my core impulses regardless of my setting. In a trade show there is a lot of pressure to fulfill the “role” of a creative person.  And yet, I wanted to remind myself, beyond expectations and roles...

No one is better at being me than me.  I had many opportunities to choose and embrace my own unique way.  And I did.  Today I remembered that clients do not choose my work because of an image or an expectation, but because it is created, uniquely, by me.   Throughout the day I would remind myself of this and say, "I set my own sails," under my breath.  It was an odd invitation to patience, to empowerment and acceptance.  Yes! it was an invitation to see and savor the “honey in my heart.”

So those little reminder alarms helped set my own sail in stalled traffic as a commute that takes 20 minutes in off-time took over two hours. I set my own sail as calls from a toxic former associate came in.  Just because the phone rings does not mean I have to answer it.  That's what voice mail is for.   That's a “message” itself. In choosing to see the joys in my day, I get to determine the systems I will use, and what things will get a  “yes,” or a “no.”

I set my own sail.  I choose.  I govern.  I see through a lens of my choosing.  I make no one else's decisions for them but I set my own sails. And perhaps tomorrow I will set a few less alarms for myself!

Writer and artist Mary Anne Radmacher shares that people have asked her over the years how she maintains a cheerful outlook in the face of clear and occasionally discouraging circumstances.  Her response is that her book called Honey In Your Heart: Ways to See and Savor the Simple Good Things is her visual, concise, inspiring answer to that question.

Here is an excerpt of the introduction: “My days are fully occupied.  The many commitments and tasks in each day would happily fill my minutes from dawn to dusk – if I let them.  I get to set aside time for the sweetest things in life.  I make room in my heart for ‘honey,’ those things which are sweet, healing, and restorative.  At the end of the day, these small sweetnesses make up the taste that lingers.  These become the real treasures that bring richness to life.”

Mary Anne Radmacher has touched the hearts of tens and thousands with her popular cards, books, posters, journals, and gift books.  She conducts workshops and writing seminars on living a full, creative, and balanced life. 

She is the author of the following books:

Lean Forward into Your Life

Us: Celebrating the Power of Friendship

May You Walls Know Joy

Courage Doesn’t Always Roar

Live with Intention

Live Boldly

Please visit her website: http://www.maryanneradmacher.net/

Mojo Monday ~ Honey In Your Heart

Writer and artist Mary Anne Radmacher shares that people have asked her over the years how she maintains a cheerful outlook in the face of clear and occasionally discouraging circumstances.  Her response is that her latest book, only just released on January 24, 2012, called Honey In Your Heart: Ways to See and Savor the Simple Good Things is her visual, concise, inspiring answer to that question.

Here is an excerpt of the introduction: “My days are fully occupied.  The many commitments and tasks in each day would happily fill my minutes from dawn to dusk – if I let them.  I get to set aside time for the sweetest things in life.  I make room in my heart for ‘honey,’ those things which are sweet, healing, and restorative.  At the end of the day, these small sweetnesses make up the taste that lingers.  These become the real treasures that bring richness to life.”

The book has three sections.  The first is called Ways to See.  This is where Mary Anne explores “some practical actions that create space in her heart and life for the more gracious activities, the small celebrations.”  

The second is called Savor.  Here is where you “will find many invitations to celebrate and savor the sweetness, that festive firework of a ‘Yay!’ that explodes in your soul when something seems a bit like a holiday.”  Here she “shares phrases, poems and thoughts that might inspire you to see the honey in your day that you’ve yet to notice.”  

The third section is called Simple, Good Things and this is where Mary Anne shares things that drew an audible “yay” in her experience.  She shares that she wants her list “to be the inspiration for you to begin your own list.”

Honey In the Heart is a beautiful book filled with the inspirational writing and colorful art of Mary Anne Radmacher.  Here is an example of beautiful word art that appears in the book.

She poses thoughtful questions ~ "What is the first things you set your sights upon in the morning?  And how do you invite yourself in to a day that you intend to savor?"

She shares some of her poetry.  Here is a poem about releasing pain from the book:

My pain stays in my wardrobe.

To wear it is always a choice...

The painful lyrics line my shelves.

Each page gives pain its voice...

My pain is in my history,

Giving impulse to my present view

It's brought me where I'm standing and now

I'll tell a bit to you -

For in the telling of the tale, pain feeds its weary soul.

In the space it takes in telling are my hours and

minutes - stole

From the freshness of this moment, from the truth of

this day's dawn, pain steals and rakes and rolls upon the

soiled beauty I garden on.

My pain's been ever with me.

But I tell you this time, clear,

It may have some this far with me,

but today - I'll leave it here.

The book closes beautifully with these words in the Afterword from Mary Anne.

Mary Anne Radmacher has touched the hearts of tens and thousands with her popular cards, books, posters, journals, and gift books.  She conducts workshops and writing seminars on living a full, creative, and balanced life. 

She is the author of the following books:

Lean Forward into Your Life

Us: Celebrating the Power of Friendship

May You Walls Know Joy

Courage Doesn’t Always Roar

Live with Intention

Live Boldly

Please visit her website: http://www.maryanneradmacher.net/

Mojo Monday ~ Phenomenal Woman

Fairly recently I was thinking that someone needed to take Maya Angelou's poem Phenomenal Woman and put it into song.  Well a friend of mine posted this video of Candaian artist Amy Sky performing this poem as a song.  So fabulous and inspirational. 

Here is a little story about how Amy Sky got permission to turn the poem into a song:

"I carried this incredible poem around in my purse for months, while trying to contact Dr. Maya Angelou to get her permission to put it to music. One day she showed up -- serendipitously - at a taping of the Dini Petty show that I was also on. When I told her I wanted to set the poem to music, she said she had always wanted it to be a song, and gave me permission on the spot. Not only was I thrilled to be able to sing out her inspiring words of self- affirmation night after night, I learned a very valuable lesson about intention. I passionately believed the poem should be a song, and the universe heard me and responded. I encourage anyone who has a dream, no matter how out of reach it seems, to keep it in your purse - keep it close to your heart. Travellers who undertake a journey for the right reasons, are always helped by invisible hands."


Enjoy!

Phenomenal Women

by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

the palm of my hand,

The need of my care,

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Mojo Monday ~ Poetry for Mother Earth

Image Digitally Created by Michelle Fairchild in 2008

It seemed fitting to bring together poetry and thoughts about our Mother Earth seeing as how April is National Poetry Month and the 41^st Anniversary of Earth Day was celebrated on April 22^nd.  

Our planet absolutely astounds me.  There are so many descriptive words that come to mind while contemplating our shared globe: wondrous, remarkable, amazing, incredible…and yet none of them can really do it justice.  How do you describe something so sacred and miraculous?  

What I know is that we do the best we can using our sacred earthly tools such as words, both prose and poetry, paintings, songs, dances, culinary arts, rituals and activism.  

In honor of our big blue planet here is a compilation of prose, poetry and song to honor her.

My Dearest Mother Earth, 

Your beauty is astounding
so much so that it brings tears
to the eyes of those who really see you
the greens and blues, the red, browns and yellows
the rainbows that you sometimes wear like magical jewels
and underneath your stunning appearance
you are humble 

You are a provider
a giver of life
if it were not for you
and the water that covers
two thirds of your surface
there would be no life
and yet you are humble 

There are those
in certain circles
who are concerned
about worshipping you
as a deity
and yet it seems
that since our very
lives and survival
depends on you
that there needs to be
greater Reverence in how we view you 

There needs to be more
love and respect
in our actions and thoughts
towards you
and while we can celebrate
that forty-one years ago
inspired individuals celebrated
the first Earth Day on
April 22, 1970
we must also honor that
every day is Earth Day.

~ By Michelle Fairchild

In the Midst of Pain

By Gregg Krech 

Once, not long ago, it was a hearty tree
providing shade, food, and oxygen—
a world of its own. 

For a hundred years,
perhaps more,
it flourished with breath and life. 

Then it was cut, sawed, ground, and pressed
until it found itself resting softly
between two friends. 

Peacefully and patiently
it waited for the moment
it would burst forth into the world
and exercise the meaning of its life. 

And now that moment has come.
It gracefully caresses my cheek,
wiping the tears from my eyes
and taking on my pain as its own 

All those years
as seed, tree, wood
and tissue
in preparation for the fleeting moment
it would console my sadness. 

As it gives its life to comfort me
I almost failed to see the kindness in its deed. 

Wrapped up in self-centered pain, tear-blinded,
I nearly missed its selfless service.
Who will give witness to such compassion if not me? 

 Shriveled and soaked, it died while serving a fool
who discarded thousands of its brothers and sisters
without a thanks –not one tear shed in gratitude. 

Teach me to see through the teardrop, that in the midst of pain
I may understand the true source
of the softness against my face. 

Teach me to cry with my eyes wide open.

"With My Own Two Hands"

I can change the world
With my own two hands
Make it a better place
With my own two hands
Make it a kinder place
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I can make peace on earth
With my own two hands
I can clean up the earth
With my own two hands
I can reach out to you
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I'm going to make it a brighter place
With my own two hands
I'm going to make it a safer place
With my own two hands
I'm going to help the human race
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I can hold you
With my own two hands
I can comfort you
With my own two hands
But you've got to use
Use your own two hands
Use your own
Use your own two hands
With our own
With our own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands

~ by Jack Johnson featuring Ben Harper

Share your thoughts about Mother Earth.  

If you feel inspired write her a letter, a poem, a song and share it with us here.

Earth Song by Michael Jackson

Mojo Monday ~ Poetry

po·et·ry   [poh-i-tree] 

–noun

1.  the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.

2.  literary work in metrical form; verse.

3.  prose with poetic qualities.

4.  poetice qualities however manifested: the poetry of simple acts and things.

5.  poetic spirit or feeling: The pianist played the prelude with poetry.

6.  something suggestive of or likened to poetry: the pure poetry of a beautiful view on a clear day.

The Academy of American Poets, which was founded in 1934,  led the initiative to designate April as National Poetry Month. Their goal was to widen the attention of individuals and the media—to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our complex poetic heritage, and to poetry books and journals of wide aesthetic range and concern. The first National Poetry Month was held in April of 1996.  The Acadeny of American Poets has enlisted a variety of government agencies and officials, educational leaders, publishers, sponsors, poets, and arts organizations to help.

 

Magnetic Fridge Poetry

The goals of National Poetry Month are to:

• Highlight the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets
• Introduce more Americans to the pleasures of reading poetry
• Bring poets and poetry to the public in immediate and innovative ways
• Make poetry a more important part of the school curriculum
• Increase the attention paid to poetry by national and local media
• Encourage increased publication, distribution, and sales of poetry books
• Increase public and private philanthropic support for poets and poetry

They also created a list called 30 Ways to Celebrate.

Here are some of examples from the list:

• Take a poem out to lunch.
• Recite a poem to family or friends.
• On April 14th Celebrate Poem In Your Pocket Day
• Attend a poetry reading.
• Put a poem in a letter.
• Memorize a Poem.  
• There is even a book called Committed to Memory: 100 Best Poems to Memorize (1996) which is suggested as a great guide to choosing poems which lend themselves easily to memorization. 
• Sign up to receive a poem a day via email or if you have an iPhone download for free Poem Flow and receive a new poem every day

Poetry as an art form

Additional Resources:

National Poetry Month

The Academy of American Poets 

What are your thoughts about poetry?

Were you exposed to poetry as a child?  

Do you have a favorite poem?  

Do you write poetry?  Would you share one with us?

Poet Katie Makkai performing Pretty