Category Archives: Spirituality

January 13, 2020 · 3:53 pm

To That Place Again – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

VJs Weekly Challenge – Subtraction

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Photo: beliefnet.com

 

“God is not found in the soul by adding anything but by a process of subtraction.”  Meister Eckhart

 

To That Place Again

How many valleys and ravines have been
that perfect sense of standing on the edge
seeking subtraction by addition,
rather than simply surrendering
the me of me for the real me,
unravelling the complexity
of my false true self,
offering substitutes two sizes down,
placating the demons of acceptance,
rummaging the garbage of life
for hollow platitudes,
a reductio ad absurdum
that returns me unfulfilled
to that place again
of self emptying towards
onement.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com.

26 Comments

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January 10, 2020 · 5:01 pm

A way Home – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

dVerse Poets – Open Link Night

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Image: thephoblographer.com

 

“Ghosts don’t haunt us. That’s not how it works. They’re present among us because we won’t let go of them.”  Sue Grafton

 

A Way Home

The room was so still so late,
nothing and no one
a stirring not,
though midst my typing
a shadow passing
persisting time and again
through the snores of the house,
a presence behind me
not malevolent at all,
simply lost and locked,
needing to find a way home,
a letting go,
a moving on,
saying farewell to what was
and embracing the door
of something else,
for my part
I offered the way
in words of love,
the best map there could be.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

32 Comments

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January 7, 2020 · 2:46 pm

Contemplative Action – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

VJs Weekly Challenge – Action

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Photo: pixabay.com

“A person sees in the world what they carry in their heart.”  (adapted) Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Contemplative Action

The thought before the step,
seeing with the heart
while resting the mind,
standing, walking, sitting
with feelings that arise,
resisting pathologies,
those old avenues so familiar
that flow like winter rivers,
to burst that bubble and
dispel that echo,
to know the tender deep
intangible organic love
that awaits a birthing
as gift to the world,
in step.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com.

16 Comments

Filed under challenge, community, Free Verse, life, mindfulness, poem, quote, self-development, Spirituality, Uncategorized

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December 26, 2019 · 2:54 pm

The One Called Love – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

RDP – Spiritual

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Photo: looking south-west from Kata Tjuta NT

 

“Religion is for people who’re afraid of going to hell. Spirituality is for those who’ve already been there.”  Vine Deloria Jnr.

 

The One Called Love

Where the shadows shift slowly
and the wind whispers a language
of its own unknown to human ears,
and dust takes on a life of meaning
as it stirs and lifts,
the residue of centuries
residing in all the corners,
while in the quiet
a still small voice,
the one called love,
waiting to be heard.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

34 Comments

Filed under Alt-Religion, bush walking, Country, Free Verse, love, meditation, poem, quote, Spirituality

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December 25, 2019 · 4:02 pm

Moments – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

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Photo: Mundaring, State Forest Reserve, a zanthorrea with spiralling stem.

“Some moments are nice, some are nicer, some are even worth writing about.”  Charles Bukowski

Moments

Moments pass
and they’re hard to grasp
yet easy enough to feel,
but to the heart they are lasting,
often there is no language
to pick at the threads
or to make something of it,
a memorial offering for posterity
so as never to forget,
some moments are best left
they are simply that moment
to be felt and
never fully to be spoken,
and yet, in the leaving
they are strangely more fully known.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

23 Comments

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December 3, 2019 · 4:10 pm

Seeing – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

dVerse Poets – Quadrille

Photo: Cafe in Bunbury, a spirited Willy Wagtail – the fly-catcher who came in from the cold!

 

“The highest proof of the spirit is love.”  Albert Schweitzer

 

Seeing

When the prophet spoke
the wait was long and dry
till some shepherds called
though few believed their news,
I glimpse her if I’m careful
in children passing by,
birds, laughter, dragonflies,
faces on the street,
wise wind of Sophia
ancient eternal present,
heartfelt.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

39 Comments

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November 24, 2019 · 2:34 pm

The Unknowing – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

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Photo: videoblocks.com

 

“Until we accept the fact that life itself is founded in mystery, we shall learn nothing.”  Henry Miller

The Unknowing

Knowing
that one doesn’t know
is the most profound moment,
like seeing through a window,
not to the other side
so much as to see
what was not seen before,
a complete unknowing of
everything and a turning
to the inner compass
awaiting stillness.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

24 Comments

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November 13, 2019 · 4:37 pm

One Day – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Let Us Labour

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Photo: Lake Amadeus, NT.

“Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth, every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep a little death.”  Arthur Schopenhauer

One Day

Did I conceive that I wondered as
the idea floated through my mind,
there I stood on sacred ground
my feet bathed in the dust of ancestry,
and I scooped a handful
of this dry, red wisdom as if
I were scooping up water
for my parched throat,
sifting it through my fingers,
feeling the lives of ages,
seeing the future in past, lived, lives,
some of them my own
even not yet birthed,
but being born
and one day they will ask,
not were you someone famous,
rather, were you really Paul?

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

32 Comments

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November 7, 2019 · 2:50 pm

Slowly – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

VJs Weekly Challenge – Wait

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Photo: quotemaster.org

 

“Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company.”   Zen Haiku quotes

Slowly

The brazier floats on tatami,
kimono and cups neatly appointed,
the smell of sencha wafts and
the steam curls upwards
so does my heart
with each step,
she breathes slowly
moves deliberately
as I wait patiently
for my life to pour out
floating on tatami.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

20 Comments

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October 26, 2019 · 3:53 pm

How I React – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

Word of the Day – Karma

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Photo: freepik.com

 

“This body, full of faults, has yet one great quality: Whatever it encounters in this temporal life depends upon one’s actions.”  Nargarjuna

How I React

You said words which cannot be undone
and in the simple math of cause and effect
how I reacted determined my pain and
gave grounds for yours
should you choose to nurture it so,
but in the end we chose to
hold that space and
find a balanced view,
sowing forgiveness and reaping love,
then suddenly finding that
the words had gone,
as if a thunderstorm had
watered the earth and passed over
without event.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

16 Comments

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