The ocean and mountains are sacred places for me
and allow me to rebalance mind and body...
During a time in my life in which I was learning
to cope with an anxiety disorder and fending off cancer, I drove to the beach every
Saturday morning. I would lay on the beach, under an umbrella, all day Saturday
and Sunday listening to the healing sounds of the shore and bathing in pure,
uninterrupted calm.
These reprieves from work and life pressures
literally staved off an early death for me. "I Believe the Sea Oats"
was written during a mystical moment one such afternoon on the beach, when I
was lifted into an internal garden even more nurturing than the seaside.
I Believe the Sea Oats
Cicadas’ clicking crescendo
the perpetual ocean whoosh
engulf us in a dome
open space
a fine acoustical home
the moment freezes
breathes a whisper
I can’t say if this is transcendence
but the seagulls sense it
without chatter they soar on quiet winds
the gulls and I, fellow monks, move
silent in the temple of the present.
A warm breeze holds straight for me
skims atop the sea
probes the dunes whose sea oats
slow-heave and
tipping fingers point--
the space between heave and tip
fills with half a pirouette
a hundred oat-feathered reeds
choreographed
in stately ecstasy
they accuse in all directions--
the Artist is everywhere at once
I believe the sea oats
the grasses at their base
the circular leaves
of the low sand plant
boasting purple flowers.
(Click on the play button below to hear Pranada recite her poem)
Pranada Comtois is
an advocate of the spiritual evolution of Bhakti’s wise-love in our lives, our
heart, and our relationships. At sixteen she began her lifelong practice and
study of Bhakti under the guidance of her guru A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. An
activist in women’s spiritual empowerment, she successfully organized global
steps against gender injustice and published a quarterly journal advocating
women’s rights in the modern Bhakti tradition. She is a featured speaker in the
film “Women of Bhakti” and the author of Wise-Love: Bhakti
and the Search for the Soul of Consciousness (forthcoming). Read more on her blog here, or connect with her on Facebook here.
~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~
Thank you for coming over yesterday and sharing your beautiful poems! I so much enjoyed recording your voice and setting it to a slide show. It certainly adds a whole new dimension of experiencing your poetry for those who visit the blog. For me, it is very significant, as this is a blog created to fuel women's voices, and being able to hear the poem and well as read it certainly emphasizes this in a very tangible way. I feel your presence very strongly in your voice, and your courage as well, as this poem emerged from a time in your life in which your heart had to exercise much bravery.Thank you again for sharing, and I look forward to more!
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