Reflections, Light, and Shadow

Photo credit: (c) Adair Heitmann 2023

Happy New Year to everyone. I’m working on a series of fine art photographs called, “Reflections, Light, and Shadow.” I only use available light, crop the image using the camera on my mobile phone, and shoot. Capturing natural glimpses, fleeting moments in time, brings out the poet in me, distilling things down to their essence.

Then finding this Rumi quote is the icing on the cake:
“Both light and shadow are the dance of love.”
– Rumi

Creativity and wellness message for today: Be delighted by nature’s design.

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Fruits of Our Labors

Hello! I’ve been away sifting, editing, and packing our household belongings . . . looking for a new place to live . . . finding one . . . moving in . . . and I’m setting up my studio/office today! What do I do the minute I set up my laptop? Sit down and write you. Here’s a place my creativity lies.

We work hard to be where we are in life, the fruits of our labors helped us sell our former beloved home and purchase a new (soon to be cherished) one. The fruits of our labors help pay for our son’s college education and help pay our new mortgage.

What I didn’t expect when we inherited three large raised bed vegetable gardens with our new house was that the previous owners’ labors would feed us for the first several nights of new house ownership. Quickly we learned how to prepare Japanese eggplant and Swiss chard. The heritage tomatoes took no guess-work, they were delicious with fresh mozzarella from a local farmers market and basil from our the garden. We are grateful for their efforts, the rewards we reaped.

I discovered this poet today and think her words sum up the last several months:

Millions of Strawberries

Marcia and I went over the curve,

Eating our way down

Jewels of strawberries we didn’t deserve,

Eating our way down.

Till our hands were sticky, and our lips painted,

And over us the hot day fainted,

And we saw snakes,

And got scratched,

And a lust overcame us for the red unmatched

Small buds of berries,

Till we lay down-

Eating our way down-

And rolled in the berries like two little dogs,

Rolled

In the late gold,

And gnats hummed,

And it was cold,

And home we went, home without a berry,

Painted red and brown,

Eating our way down.

– by Genevieve Taggard

Creativity and wellness message for today: Be grateful for the fruits of all labors, then lie down and have some fun.

 

 

Poem in Your Pocket Day: April 24

Save the date: Poem in Your Pocket Day 2014 will be held on Thursday, April 24! On Poem in Your Pocket Day, people throughout the United States select a poem, carry it with them, and share it with others throughout the day.

You can also share your poem selection on Twitter by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.

Why is this cool? It’s cool because it celebrates creativity and poetry and it brings poetry to the masses. It involves community and is an individual act, all at the same time. April is National Poetry Month.

What’s National Poetry Month? National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry established by the Academy of American Poets. The concept is 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.

Reading a good poem takes me to a place of richness that I wasn’t in a moment before, such as this one . . .

Sleeping in the Forest

I thought the earth remembered me,
she took me back so tenderly,
arranging her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds.
I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,
nothing between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths
among the branches of the perfect trees.
All night I heard the small kingdoms
breathing around me, the insects,
and the birds who do their work in the darkness.
All night I rose and fell, as if in water,
grappling with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.

from Sleeping In The Forest by Mary Oliver

I’m more grounded after reading it, awakened, and oddly satisfied.

Creativity and wellness message for today: Commit to doing something poetic this month.

 

 

Flow

A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom.
~ Robert Frost

Creativity and wellness message for today: Just start your creative project, let it evolve, listen to it, respond, then let the project guide you to the end.

Listen to a Rock

a warm fall day
learning from this rock
to do nothing
~Paul O. Williams

Creativity and wellness message for today: Even in the fray of life, take stock and listen to a rock.

Inspiration for 2012

From William Blake:

He who binds to himself a joy
Doth the winged life destroy.
He who kisses the joy as it flies,
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.

Creativity and wellness message for today: Read the above poem and repeat.

Fullness

Last night the moon was so full and bright I opened my shades and let in the light.

Memories flooded my senses — swimming under the blue glow of a full moon in the waters off Cape Cod; creating and leading Full Moon Meditation Retreats in Connecticut; writing poetry inspired by a full moon’s clarity. Then this morning I received a copy of Catherine Al-Meten’s  article in which she explores the various names and cultural interpretations of the Full Snow Moon, the largest one of the year. I’m enjoying a feeling of coming full circle.

Creativity and wellness message for today: Let the energies of the full moon pull you closer to your true expressive self.