Beauty

Japan Waters Teach

In secluded Teahouses, 

Shrines surprising on any given dori,

Onsens, lakes and glistening stalactites;

Water everywhere is revered…

Quenching

Rejuvenating 

Exhilarating 

Purifying…

Immerse into Onsen waters,

Healing heat and minerals

Weightlessness teaches trust

Promise of nature’s caring protections.

Teahouses simmer waters ceremoniously,

With ‘Harmony’ between the articles and the environment 

Utmost ‘Respect’ of the process

Precision and care for ‘Purification’ 

All with ‘Silence’ and concentration.

Passing though a Tori, shrine after shrine 

Welcoming water wells and baths

Offer cleansing of the body,

Both inside and out.

Hosted by Hozu-gawa River

Floating along oar by oar,

Accompanied by scenic trains, birds

Along embankments and bridges alike 

Until a squeezed passageway

Between silver grey boulders 

Rocking and splashing,

Rapids, cool and drench…

What of this liquid

Colorless

Tasteless

Yet infinitely irreplaceable!

Unique to the Pale Blue Dot.

I hold you in my cupped hands,

You kiss my surrendering lips 

You run through my veins

Synchronized to life itself.

The Hidden 

Source of all creation,
Sort for in disguise 
As power, status,
Accumulated accolades and acquisitions. 

Fluid yet omnipresent,
Like the soft drizzle of rain
Slowly, flowing and circling 
Back to the seas.

We are that drop
Manifested of love
Looking for love,
Lost in the storms.

How delicate this play,
A scavenger hunt designed
Clues strewn in your path,
Undeniable beauty 

In every bud, petal
Baby, cub,
Ancient story,
Familial feeling.
 
Filled with an intrigue
The search is endless,
Yet the prize sits
Literally under you nose.

If the thirst is sincerely evoked 
The universe concedes.
With every stardust particle 
Your true love, the union

Uncloaks, lays naked
And embraces.
Here is heaven on earth
And the game of love

Is truly afoot.
As now the longing and satiation  
Can be played each day
With lover and love 

All in one abode.
Know the temple, your own being 
Feel the beloved ,as home 
Is completely where your heart is.

Fall

Fall time, fall years

Culmination of beauty

Wisdom

Perspective.

Immersed and surrounded

By a depth,

Only time can give.

Riches,

Only experience can gather.

Gratitude,

Only surrendering reveals.

The fine lines 

The atrophy

The forgetfulness,

Ceases to grip 

As anguish begins to melt.

What comes, will pass

What hurts, will fade

And peace is found,

As the cyclic natural of all

Comes to light.

And most of all,

A returning

To a consciousness.

Floating with a birds eye view

Disengagement from drama, trauma.

All that’s created here 

To be left here

Returning to a neutral purity.

As we came, shall we return.

No baggage,

But definitely not empty handed. 

As what was the purpose

Of this interlude

Between birth and death, 

‘Life’ as we call it, 

This opportunity, this experience.

To have take form of the ‘Source’.

And then to walk, to wander,

To wonder, to revel

In this creation 

Beyond comprehension. 

What minuscule chance 

We have to exist

Where galaxies and universes reign.

Yet here we are.

Be sure to query and question,

To spark your thirst 

To to find your why,

And finally ‘KNOW’ thyself.

As your ‘fall’ fades 

And the winter will ensue 

Be sure to have built 

The one relation standing firm to the end.

  • Ignorance

    Man’s greatest curse 

    Ignorance of who he is.

    So what are we!?

    We are dust that has come alive 

    Dust that is impregnated 

    By the ultimate 

    Giving movement, thought and spirit 

    Beyond imaginable incredibility.

    If for a moment we dare to appreciate 

    That we are drops of water, 

    Chemicals and their reactions,

    Unfathomable yet engineered 

    Into synchronicity and self regulation, 

    With nature’s bell curve 

    From infancy to geriatric demise, 

    Given the fortune of possibly seven decades or more.

    Where in this timeframe 

    Did we give credence

    To the liberty of life?

    Too busy distracted 

    With fear, greed, and a presumed freedom 

    When all along 

    The ultimate has been bestowed, 

    Day after day 

    Each a renewed opportunity 

    To participate, to glorify 

    Existance.

    For in a blink of an eye 

    And as your actual eyes close, 

    It will come to an end 

    And what will it have all meant? 

    Nothing!

    For it was only for you alone 

    To enjoy, to unfold, to acknowledge 

    This relationship 

    You, your existence, your sustainer.

    So don’t take lightly 

    Revel in your seasons,

    Reflect and learn your lessons 

    Grow and reach towards the light within.

    As only then 

    Will you beam and reflect

    A truth for yourself and your community 

    Both.

    Art by Catrin Welz-Stein

  • Silence

    Poetry Pharmacy – Silence 

    “How still, how happy! Now I feel 

    Where silence dwells is sweeter far

    Than laughing mirth’s most joyous swell

    However pure its raptures are.”

    Emily Brontë 

    Ahhhh this place of silence 

    Awaiting my arrival day and night 

    No appointments, no reservations 

    No declines, no rescheduling.

    Premium seat guaranteed 

    Reception perfectly suited 

    To wash away the tarnishing mind

    Silence with peaceful hum of breath 

    Music with depth greater than the heart 

    This the purest of joys!

  • Redo or not?!

    The one thing I would redo…

    At 58 I sit and ponder

    What would I redo?

    Would I redo the daisy chains made on my middle school fields

    Would I redo the endless questions posed to my mother about the hows and what fors of nature

    Would I redo the cooking explosions making pasties and cakes in my besties’ mom’s kitchen

    Would I re do the pains of teen metamorphosis 

    Would I redo the fantasies of first love

    Would I redo the dreams of who I wanted to be

    Would I redo the endless tears struggling with health, the I’m not good enoughs 

    Would I redo the fears and doubts of immigrant life 

    Would I redo the losses of loved ones too dear to name

    NO!!!

    None would I redo 

    As they broke the mold

    They blazed a furnace 

    And created the me today

    With humility and gratitude

    A serene peace 

    A most thankful heart 

    I am here today 

    As the grace of life continues to be gifted

    With a knowing that prevails 

    All is just how it needs to be for me 

    Thankyou for all your lovely birthday wishes this 2025!

  • Anniversaries

    Dates that come around

    Reminding of happy times,

    Times we commemorate 

    Births, milestones

    Achievements

    And then there is death.

    The time span of existance 

    This we have made the measure of life,

    A beginning and an end.

    But the mess in the middle 

    The delicious filling 

    Between two slices of bread,

    Of what endless choices we have 

    What pleasure it brings,

    What surprises we have.

    So this day, today

    I celebrate not commiserate,

    The life of a man, the life of my Dad.

    If he taught one thing,

    It was to get up and go

    For there was always much to be done

    Always much to be had.

    So in his memory

    Sisters let wake. 

    Let’s get up and go

    Go in life, with his push forever behind us

    But on our path, of our making.

    For finding our zest and zeal 

    Lies not with and through those we have and those we’ve lost 

    But deep within ourselves

    As we make the choices, 

    To grow and connect 

    With the source 

    That cannot leave,

    Will not abandon

    Is always waiting

    To catch,

    To promote

    To praise

    With each little gifted

    Moment,

    Breath

    Presence.

  • Mat-Eternity

    Beyond the nursing

    Diaper changing

    Feeding, bathing

    The endless list of verb-ing

    A mother subliminally shares

    The deepest bond 

    Where emotions are perceived 

    Dreams, aspirations are known

    Fears and regrets are soothed

    She is a super hero

    Magical strength

    Far reaching vision

    Always recognizing 

    All you need

    All she can do 

    And to do it 

    With an unshakable love.

    How does the saying go?

    Mothers are angels

    Without wings 

    Sent by God

    How fortunate 

    That each and everyone of us 

    Is-was blessed

    Not without but with our very own angel.

    And even when

    No longer Earthly

    She stays close to our heart

    Whispering day and night

    Sweetness second to none

    Encouragement and praise showered as

    Only a mother can and will.

    So hold your child

    Cherish your mother 

    As everyday’s a gift 

    And take not for granted 

    To mother or be mothered.

The Third Season

Anatoliy Misuik, Autumn Breath, 2022, Lviv Ukraine

The morning air

clean and slight crisp.

The golden orb

slower to rise.

This third season

closes what has been amassed 

with a serene gratitude.

Gentle and as abundantly as the falling leaves.

Yet opens the door 

to reflection and consolidation,

giving rise to fortitude 

needed to step into the shorter darker days.

Maturing beauty surrounds

with swaying wheat bushels.

Rich solid gourds and pumpkins 

adorning doorsteps and mantles.

Summer fruits dwindle,

as hearty fall veggies

gathered for soups and stews 

await crusty bread dipping.

This the season 

of closing in onto the self.

Comforting for some.

Frightful for others.

For your own autumn’s coming,

collect the savoring of memories 

rich and robust for growing closer 

to your inner core.

As this, your core, will never dwindle

decay and dissolve. 

And as you await your winter

fear not the cold or isolation.

But welcome the comfort,

Companionship

of that which you has seen you through 

each and all of your seasons.

Plenitude

Magnificent simplicity 

Delicately glorious 

Profoundly present 

Regally virtuous 

Composition unique 

Yet familiarity opens

My heart once more

And a warmth released

How far we stray

In this world 

Of asphalt and tar

Where trees are cleared

Where creatures made homeless 

And man banks

Another buck

And builds yet another city

When will we learn

When will we remember 

The ecosystem 

The cosmos 

All rotate, revolve 

In a natural order

When a simple rose

One of a million

Can tell the story

Of a divine perfection 

And inspire a gratuitous love

From your deepest vault

This is the gift

Not of a dozen roses

But merely just one

As housed in her

The depth of a beauty

Is the same for me 

The same for you

Glow and yield

To what is nature’s 

Rhyme and reason

Love and grace

And accept the abundant plenitude 

Ancient Beads 


From a simple ritual
To the practicing yogi,
The one hundred and eight beads
Constitutes a time for intentional focus.

Initiated in the 8th century BC,
These spiritual beads in Hinduism
Now are used through Islam, Christianity
Buddhism, 2/3rds of the world’s population. 

Whether wood, seed or stone
They shall deliver
Properties of healing, protection
And most commonly, spiritual practice.

I gift this to you,
So you can intentionally 
Breathe 108 times
With vitality, feeling vibrancy.

Speak a mantra
Drawing you inwards.
Feel the earthly element 
Connecting you to Mother Earth.

Simply put, I wish you
108 blessings,
108 guardians,
108 freed moments 
Each and every day.

May you hold this mala
With the clarity it was made,
With the love it is sent,
And wisdom with which you shall use.

Floral Gifts

Unequivocal beauty

Blooming grace, like a dance 

Drawing riches from the terra 

Your petals defy the science 

Fluttering delicately 

Like wings of the butterfly

Yet with the strength of an army 

You win each battle for my heart

How gloriously you entrance me

Leading back to simplicity of gratitude 

Smiling outside and inward

Warmth of omnipresence made tangible