Journey of the Heart

For me, poems are about spilling out all those unspoken feelings…   Poems manage to connect us with the abstract substance of emotions through words. This one is about a moment of overwhelming sense of cosmic union with Divinity. Emptiness This emptiness... For I am just the empty vessel And you fill me in With your desire And there grows a baby Of the universe, in the confined infinite Space of this empty container. And the plant grows Out of passion and fire In receiving our insane desire. Come, lets embrace each other tight, for here is a prayer : may this child brought through us  rise up, rooted in earth and bloom out its flowers and fruits to the skies laughing with the timeless joys of the universe! Gratitude gratitude!! ~ Kadambari Kashyap is a bachelor’s student of Communication Studies in Bangalore. She was born and brought up in a small town of Ass...

This poem surfaced on a snow day… As I watched the snow fall I reflected back to the many years when I lived where it didn't snow. My life seemed, externally, perfect to others.  And now, as I hibernate on this snow day in January, unable to drive, to do much outside of the house because of the low temperatures, it's now that I am truly completely free, and deeply comforted by the gentle falling of snow.  'Snow' Photography by Krista Katrovas Comforting Snow I felt the waves used to laugh at me add depth to the pain when they pounded into the shoreline. It seemed the sun would chime in, too, as it blazed down, nudging my shoulders and the tip of my nose until they grew red. I was supposed to be happy. I had it all, the pool, designer bags, watches, expensive clothes, cars, I was living in Sunny San Diego where the weather is the most moderate of all places in the world. Now I live where it snows, where shade and cloud cover have ...

From time to time, I find it refreshing and uplifting to list the things for which I’m grateful… Sometimes, I do it when I go for a run – I see whether, over the course of several miles’ running, I can keep the list growing and not run out of new things to add. It’s incredible, how many things there are. Even in the difficult times, even in the dark times, the list is long and sometimes startling. On this occasion, I wrote part of my list into a poem… “For healthy days and strong days, for days when I can touch the stars - days that keep me from the brink on the other days...” Yes; there are those “other days”; it’s not helpful or healthy to deny it, but I’m grateful that so far, the stars I’ve touched in the “strong times” are still there in the dark times - even when they’re obscured and I can’t see them, let alone reach them, for a while - reminding me that dawn is just over the horizon. Gratitude  by Ruth Calder Murphy For the small things; ...

Poetry, as we known it, greatly assists the healing process...  The vibration of words allows us to connect and make sense of the some times inexpressible wounds of our past. Poetry helps us grow and harmonize with all the aspects of our multifaceted self. It reconciles the mind and the heart, and the body and the soul, which at times conflict one another. Words are inspiring, healing, and illuminating. “Where The River Meets The Ocean” is the first poem featured in my poetry book “Kauai’s Gift” , which I wrote after I was exposed to a life-changing, Near Death Experience when caught in the wild waves of the north shore of the island of Kauai. It reveals the different facets of Life, the gift of each and every moment, sadness and joy, anger and peace, as perfection. I invite you to discover this poem through dance and sound in this video:   Where The River Meets The Ocean Where the river meets the ocean, I find myself,...

  At the moment of writing this poem I was thinking of gratitude...  ...which is a word with multiple entities. As I listed what I was truly grateful for, I felt love like I've never felt before. What triggers my emotions? I can hardly begin to define.  I will see a flower, hear a bird, feel a smile, touch into music and viola!  Something mystical happens.  I'm transported through clouds and wind and what flows out happens to be words.  Love is elusive and difficult to translate. The love I try to express in this poem is multidimensional and permeating of the soul.  It's an unconditional love where one can feel safe.  It is as expansive as it is real. As we open to this universal love, we are connected as one.  Imagine all the stars touching each other. We are but a speck in infinity. We are the stars, the filaments that tether this love. I'm enraptured and humbled by this cosmic concept...

  This poem was written six years ago in October 2011... My daughter, Viveka and I had just completed our cross country American mother-daughter walkabout (see bio for details on the walk).  We were attending a week-long seminar in Oak Park IL with Andrew Harvey on "Sacred Activism" when these words flowed out of me after a meditation.... GRATITUDE by Reverend Doris Davis In the secret chamber of the heart some words arose that took the form of prayer. Around the space four presences were gathered: the one who always presides, and the witness, and the two -- the body and the soul. The soul addressed the body and s/he said: “Beloved one, you honor me today, leaving all burdens of the past behind, forgiving me and letting yourself be forgiven. Only gratitude is left in the space between us. Give me your hand, and let us celebrate what G-d has given us to know of Love.” 'Take my Hand' by E. Tastad...