“He who knows others is clever, he who knows himself has discernment.” Lao Tzu
The One Road I've often wondered as life goes on, if there are as many journeys as there are roads to take and, how does one discern a road when the road runs out and the map is somewhat confused? To love and be loved, to let go and to go, to know and not know, and to be less judging of the self, trusting the one road, the interior road that knows. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under awareness, Country, Free Verse, life, mindfulness, poem, quote
At dVerse Frank is hosting the Haibun (prose + haiku) with an invitation to write about the present moment.
dVerse Poets – Haibun – The Present Moment
“If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. But, if you are at peace, you are living in the present.” Lao Tzu
The Present Moment If I try to, I cannot reach back into all my yesterdays and reclaim them. And, even if I could, all that I would achieve is a reconstruction of days as perfect past moments. So I cannot reach back and hold any moment as it was. Besides I don't want to, the past is the past and best left as formative memory for better or worse. The future eludes me in smoke and mirrors, the pathway is unclear, no plan is foolproof. Besides, if I could see even just a little ahead I would be adjusting my approach towards the perfect experience. The most abiding feeling I have is of the fleeting present moment. That moment, the blinking of an eye, the moment between the inward and outward breath, which passes so quickly. These moments come and go and I have learned to treasure them before they slip into yesterday. But, to be in the present moment, I have to be present.
under the branches my inward and outward breath present moment held. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under Haibun, Haiku, life, meditation, mindfulness, quote
VJs Weekly Challenge – I’m Bored
“Boredom is rage spread thin.” Paul Tillich
Awaiting When the monitor screen runs flat and everything is flavoured chalk, I bore holes in the universe to see what leaks down the strands of my mind, resisting the blind rut of ordinary days, those vanilla plays fritted to dust and, when the portal opens the river flows, like milk and honey as caramel as smiling stars and the gaze of a tangerine sun, the air electric with held breath awaiting the creative new. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under creativity, Free Verse, life, mindfulness, passion, poem, psychology, quote
“The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses.” Utah Phillips
Will We? Are we living in denial of our roots in the natural world, what game of double dare are we playing so late, willow risk taking a step to awakening and be unfurled? Could we possibly make a stand above the divisions twirled, and let go the ancient castes of expected eager fixation, are we living in denial of our roots in the natural world? How will we deal with all that heated invective hurled, so shamefaced that we are easily silenced to inaction, will we risk taking a step to awakening and be unfurled? As we face the furnace of resistance in which we are knurled, what chance that we will stand on the ramparts urgent, are we living in denial of our roots in the natural world? Will nature hear us shout justice and not just mutter purled, surely we have nothing left to lose at this late hour, will we risk taking a step to awakening and be unfurled? Why are we so reluctant and seeking to be safe and curled, times are desperate so what have we got to lose but gain, are we living in denial of our roots in the natural world, will we risk taking a step to awakening and be unfurled? ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under environment, justice, life, mindfulness, nature, poem, quote, Villanelle
“The mystical is not how the world is, but that it is.” Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ineffable Mystical schizophrenia harboured in a singular mind, not hard to explain like the simplicity of a zen koan, an ineffable experience like sunsets without words self dissolving into presence as I feel everything. Not hard to explain like the simplicity of a zen koan, washed in the gentle streams of one's thoughts, self dissolving into presence as I feel everything, this is the way things are with an open heart. Washed in the gentle streams of one's thoughts, floating on air like a dandelion seed content, This is the way things are with an open heart knowing that I am simply moving in any direction. Floating on air like a dandelion seed content, an ineffable experience like sunsets without words, knowing that I am simply moving in any direction, mystical schizophrenia harboured in a singular mind. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under life, mindfulness, Pantoum, poem, quote, Spirituality
At dVerse, Linda is hosting Open Link Night where we are invited to post a poem of our choice.
dVerse Poets – Open Link Night
“I choose to listen to the river for a while, thinking river thoughts, before joining the night and the stars.” Edward Abbey
The Watcher's Questions Did it matter that the day was grey, that rain might come? I watch the tide come and go and I have no part in it other than as a watcher of waves and birds. The morning birds are fast and noisy, they always seem to want to be somewhere, perhaps they are hungry or simply seeking new horizons. One gull flew past, and I'm certain s/he looked intently at me as if to ponder my inner thoughts. Why did I choose this place of two tides where birds come and go? The seem so free, and yet the eye may not see that in fact they are more like me. I feel that I know them, knowing their searching. Where might it end? I wonder just how I would I feel if the birds missed a beat on their morning venture, and what does that say about me? What is my beat, and where am I in this moment? ©Paul Vincent Cannon
“Dig deep within yourself, for there is a fountain of goodness ever ready to flow if you will keep on digging.” Marcus Aurelius
An Archeology Of Self I passed through my skin to the ground so gently, like silk to soft clear water, my bones so beautifully alabaster upon the humous that enwombs me entirely with an invitation to dig among the layers of my paradox, completely incompleted thresholds of discovery ghosted in opaque moments of connection that fire my flesh and fill my core, and there, in that moment, I am in myself again, renewed, re-membered, alive. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under awareness, Free Verse, life, mindfulness, passion, poem, quote
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” ee cummings
I Knew I knew it was the only way to go forward to something gentle, something deeper, awakening slowly in that tender place, beyond the mask that fails to hide me. To something gentle, something deeper, letting go the image I hold in my hands, beyond the mask that fails to hide me, dissolving into a vulnerable softness. Letting go the image I hold in my hands, the most endearing self-deception of all dissolving into a vulnerable softness, falling into myself for the first time again. The most endearing self-deception of all, awakening slowly in that tender place, falling into myself for the first time again, I knew it was the only way to go forward. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under Free Verse, life, mindfulness, Pantoum, poem, psychology, quote
At dVerse De is hosting Quadrille with an invitation to use some form of the word Go!
dVerse Poets – Quadrille – Going, Going, Gone Poeming
“Without reflection we go blindly on our way ….” Margaret J. Wheatley
To Go To be or to go, do I need to go, do I want to go anywhere at all, the mountains in the distance called me to their high places, but I preferred to go to the valleys of my heart and dwell in presence. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under awareness, Free Verse, meditation, mindfulness, poem, Quadrille, quote
“Anyone who isn’t confused really doesn’t understand the situation.” Edward R. Murrow
Mystery Is The Deepest Emotion I'm not sure how to begin to share these things, mystery is the deepest emotion we encounter across the ever persistent illusion of time, whose mood challenges notions of truth. Mystery is the deepest emotion we encounter, seeing but not understanding the blurred moments, whose mood challenges notions of truth, those corners of my mind where possibility resides. Seeking but not understanding the blurred moments, that deep end of life where I take refuge in surprise, those corners of my mind where possibility resides, where the wisdom of feelings is the glue of sanity. That deep end of life where I take refuge in surprise, across the ever persistent illusion of time, where the wisdom of feelings is the glue of sanity, I'm not sure how to begin to share these things. ©Paul Vincent Cannon
Filed under life, mindfulness, Pantoum, poem, quote
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