Realizing Grace

Hello,
 
I listened to an interview with Arjuna Ardagh on New Dimensions Radio about his new book, "Awakening Into Oneness: The Power of Blessing in the Evolution of Consciousness". He said to be touched by grace, we must relax frantic doing and acquiring, take our hands off the wheel. He believes and I do that we live in a field of grace.

Reading, writing, and speaking poetry often brings me into an awareness of grace. Here's one of the poems
from my book and CD that embraces this idea.

You Can’t Have Everything

but you can have a tongued velvet kiss beneath tall cedars and oaks flushed with new leaves. You can have a graze of caress up your thigh, the soft brush of summer on honeyed skin. You can have muscles sleek with love and bliss in the buttery sun of morning. You can have birds singing in tree canopies, squirrels that leap, vibrant lobelia and petunias. You can have the smell of lavender and lemon thyme crushed between your fingers.

You can have a window seat with pillows and books of poetry. There are always your dreams of the writer’s studio that overlooks the ocean and delicious words to fill cracks chiseled by disappointment. You can’t clean the house with a twitch of your nose and will it to stay pristine, but you can have pineapple chunks of sunshine through your windows, bowls of rosy peaches, nectarines, ripe tomatoes. You can have a doe and two spotted fawns, a fox and her mate, blue jays, hummingbirds and coveys of quail.

You can’t make parents live forever, though for now, you can have the touch of love in your mother’s voice, the stories of your father’s triumphs that improve each year. You can’t force your sister to stop using meth, but you can send her love through her sieved holes of darkness. You can’t rescue loved ones from their unhappiness, but you can wipe away their tears and remind them to drink in the fragrant beauty of earth and sky.

You can’t stop the effects of aging, but you can view heart-soaring mauves and blues of Eastern Sierras that sweep from desert expanse, camp beneath Mammoth pines. You can thrill with an intake of breath at the sight of a massive bear. The mind’s song may wind notes of want, yet you can sing gratitude for moments full of grace.

©2004 Star Kissed Shadows, Divining Poetry, (book)
and Sweet Tongue, Assorted Poetry and Music (CD), 2007 by Sher Lianne Christian

To order our CD Sweet Tongue, Assorted Poems & Music and my book, Star Kissed Shadows, e-mail me at poetrysher@gmail.com

Tips are welcome at http://.www.paypal.com in our account raindance@nccn.net

I’m excited to announce the first review of our CD. Here is a copy of it.

Sweet Tongue, Assorted Poems & Music
Reviewed by: Bill Gainer

Sweet Tongue, Assorted Poems & Music
A spoken-word CD by: Sher and John Christian
Released: 2007

]"Sher and John Christian's new spoken-word CD, Sweet Tongue, Assorted Poems & Music, is an enchanting showcase of Sher's poetic talents and John's musical craftsmanship. I first ran across a sampling of these poems a couple of years ago in Sher's book Star Kissed Shadows and was teased at the possibility of a CD when seeing her perform live, at a local bookstore, to John's keyboard accompaniment.
Sweet Tongue, Assorted Poems & Music is a collection of twenty-three wonderfully crafted poems of place, each representing a location, time or moment in the lives of two people who find a deeper meaning of self, love and each other as they travel into the unknown. The poems chronicle the insights, awakenings and discoveries experienced as Sher and John hooked their camp trailer to the back of the car and journeyed from West Coast to East – simply in search of the next discovery.
While Sher uses a unique blend of sensual expression and spiritual insight to convey the confessions, observations and emotions of her poems, John brings a splash of musical styles (Cajun, Jazz, Blues, Rock and Country) to ground her words in the moments lived. He whispers when needed, boogies when called for and romances his keyboard as Sher untangles the mystery and magic of a night's firefly dreams. Though Sher and John's, Sweet Tongue, Assorted Poems & Music is a collaboration of two hearts, it sounds as if it is of one voice.
There is a soothing romantic tone to this collection that invites the listener to surrender to the moment and allow the words and music to carry the imagination to a safe place. Sher and John remind us that all things are possible, especially love.
For this reviewer, Sher and John Christian's new spoken-word CD, Sweet Tongue, Assorted Poems & Music, is an invitation to light the candles, pour the wine and pull the one I love close; an invitation well worth the listening."
To listen to three poems from our CD Sweet Tongue on mp3s go to www.mp3poetry.org E-mail me at poetrysher@gmail.com for information on ordering my book and our CD and having John and I perform for your event.

*I will read poetry at Women Spirit Thursday, February 14, 9:00 am to 11:00 am in Santa Rosa, CA. Check the web site for information
http://.www.WomenSpiritNetwork.com

Comments

[jc]

cool baby