Category Archives: Spirituality

March 10, 2020 · 6:54 am

Sparks Of Hope – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

dVerse Poets – Quadrille

De at dVerse has invited us to write a Quadrille (44 words) using any form of the word stir.

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Photo: shutterstock.com

 

“Sometimes a flame can shrink or waver, but sometimes a flame refuses to go out. It flares up from the  faintest ember to illuminate the darkness, to burn in spite of overwhelming odds.”  Karen Hesse.

 

Sparks Of Hope

The ancient hearth had dimmed,
what once was stoked
now barely glowed,
as we arrived
darkness shrouded round,
a question formed my mind,
to stir or not to stir,
the western light fading fast,
so I spirited the coals,
breath erupting sparks
of hope.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

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March 7, 2020 · 11:17 pm

Sweet Caress – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

RDP Saturday – Water

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A natural onsen, or Japanese bath, this one of many hot spring baths.

 

“There must be quite a few things that a hot bath won’t cure, but I don’t know many of them.”  Sylvia Plath

 

Sweet Caress

A sweet caress
seeping into my flesh,
down to the bone of
my deepest self,
held, cradled so gently,
washed for life
in this cure of souls,
my spirit liberated,
lifted as I am lifted
into new realms,
a descent of ascent
to clarity.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

20 Comments

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February 26, 2020 · 2:42 pm

Fleeting – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

dVerse Poets – Poetics – Impermanence

Merril at dVerse has invited us to write a poem about impermanence.

 

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Photo: fractalenlightenment.com

 

“Is not impermanence the very fragrance of our days?”  Rainer Maria Rilke

Fleeting

Once
I went out
to watch the western sky collapse
into the evanescent velvet of night,
fleeting as each other,
a simple reminder
that all is death while
all is resurrection,
cycles of light and life,
a constancy of letting go,
in the knowledge that
nothing is the same tomorrow
nor can ever be.
As day folds into new night,
all is annica,
all is.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

 

Note: Annica (Pali) is the teaching in Buddhism that all is impermanent. But all religions and much philosophy since the earliest times have referenced impermanence.

Paul, pvcann.com

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January 28, 2020 · 3:20 pm

For Her – a poem by Paul Vincent Cannon

dVerse Poets – Quadrille – Wild.

Kim at dVerse has invited us to write a Quadrille (44 words) using and including the word Wild.

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Photo: found on pinterest.com

“A succulent wild woman is one of any age who feels free to fully express herself in every dimension of her life.”  Sark

For Her

How can a label be drawn
from so narrow a quarter
that would imprison her,
her cover is always antithetical,
a contradicted series of paradoxes
packed in a conundrum,
Pandora loosed from that
quietude misjudged,
from her still centre
comes wild power.

©Paul Vincent Cannon

Paul, pvcann.com

37 Comments

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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

41 Comments

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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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