There’s a poverty I sometimes settle into,
a clawing for connection.
It’s a painful question
that picks me out of the world’s line-up
of chiefs and princetains,
captains and raconteurs,
the divas and the daring,
and squares me up for examination.
Him.
He’s hiding something for sure–
a limp of some sort,
a wound that hasn’t healed,
one eye that betrays him with its flickering tic,
a slow, creeping failing he strives to ignore.
Protectiveness
bottles up my weakness,
and me with it,
slows the inner metabolism,
solidifies my boundaries.
Time passes.
As I remain here,
the shell creeps inward from the edge–
it’s petrification.
A congealing.
This poem is a cutting-open
a Friend helped me write.
It’s about a boundary like the sky,
a nebulous edge that splits open
thoughts from the Beyond
and turns them into colour–
a realm for unfurled sails,
gliding birds, and the crackling
photochemistry of Possibility.
This poverty is low,
down between the stones,
tucked away in shadow
where discontentment collects
and settles like a hidden secret,
while far overhead
the sky continues whirling, unceasing.
In a quiet moment, at dusk,
the sky bends down to find me,
for it collects along
the rim of the earth as well,
transpiring into the soil,
coalescing into a dew that
slides along the undersides of rock
and along cracks in my shell, whispering
of the brilliance high above.
Christ is the kind of sky
that will fall softly upon you
in the night, and offer water.
Then, at dawn, the sky you drank
will evaporate and carry you
up into the heavens
for presentation to the sun.
In just this way,
all poverty is sunken into,
and absolved…
A great Friend is like this:
One who can be both
your water and your sky.
If this poem finds you
at nightfall, please…
have a drink.
Embracing Forever 
Thanks for the water Michael and poem to help crack open my shell. It’s amazing how quickly I retreat into myself at the first sign of trouble. 🙂 You have a gift for language that’s so different, it makes me stop and focus on the present to discern your subtle word play. Good stuff. Thanks!
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Thanks, Brad. I know the retreat feeling… believe me. Thankfully, we are always hunted down in our defensive perimeters by a soft-spoken Friend with a death-defying Presence who bears a gentle inquiry about whether or not we might like to join Love this evening for a spot of tea out on the veranda… 🙂 Hard to resist, that.
Michael
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You paint with words…<3 Thank you Michael. 🙂
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I can’t imagine a greater joy to my late night grading than this offer of a drink. Between one paper and the next, you ping in with a breadth of experience i cannot ignore – who can go from the dark underbelly of rocks to a sky dance on a Tuesday evening? I am refreshed and carried through – no thing feels tedious tonight!
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Tuesdays are as good a night as any, I say. I am so glad you took me up on the offer, and I hope it was refreshing. I am curious if you are implementing the aforementioned cut back on essay-grading commentary, and increasing the face time with the genuine seekers…? How’s that going?
I imagine you must be serving refreshments there as well… 🙂
Michael
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And fridays are a good time to bow to you for the thoughtfulness of your query – how kind of you to remember such a micro detail of shifting in my little corner 🙂 Some days, I am still swimming in molasses trying to figure out how to maximize the usefulness, but the learning and growth of such days are not getting lost, which also gives a nice contrast to the high tea times with “genuine seekers.” I think it is an ever-evolving process, like so many processes we come to learn. Eden’s words were a great pointing and turning for me. Thank you for asking!
I enjoyed catching up on the lovely rainbow exchange of M and M and their Teas – here is another Tea(er)…Me! I think we may have all clinked our teacups together in the sky and toasted all the overlapping gifts of hearts remembering together!
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I just started reading the “uncut” version of Stranger in a Strange Land last night, by the late great R. Heinlein. I read it once about twenty years ago, probably the original shortened version, but remember far too little of it. If you haven’t had the pleasure, and in order that this comment make some sense, the human child in the novel who is raised by Martian culture believes that any person he shares a glass of water with becomes his “water brother”, family for life basically, one he can trust implicitly. In the same spirit, I am grateful for my tea family in the sky that has blossomed…
Michael
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Just sitting here, at the table, drinking in your presences. I so enjoy just being here, even when I don’t have words.
clink! clink!
To life!
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Ahhhh, the joys of sharing presence… the queen of all teas…
Michael
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I cannot not acknowledge a water brother distinction – a first for this non-martian born lady! I will seek out the uncut version for though this classic from my early ears is one of my favorite reads ever, it has been a long while, and I didn’t know of the cut and uncut versions – a new treat to look forward to! And Hellow Meredith – I almost added a line wondering if Meredith would like to join for tea too! She got the message! It is an inclusive sky group – i can see D and A and A and B and all who stumble here and there together – water brothers – wonderful!
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I need some time to grok these events in fullness, that I might praise and cherish each one of you.
Michael
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New Moons are always difficult times for me – I always feel crushed under the weight of Her darkness – thank you for your offering to those of us who are thirsty ❤
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Is that what’s been going on!? I’m appreciative of your bringing that extra dimension of awareness to the present moment. The moon is such a powerful connector… Hopefully you are breathing easier as of today…
Michael
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The new definitions are stunning my friend:
SKY [skahy]
noun, plural skies.
a nebulous edge that splits open
thoughts from the Beyond
and turns them into colour–
a realm for unfurled sails,
gliding birds, and the crackling
photochemistry of Possibility.
The synchronicity abounds as about two hours after this beautiful post, I was found to be sending out honey coated squeezes while pouring myself a tall drink of Love 🙂 . How fun to find this post awaiting enjoyment with a morning cuppa. Chin chin. http://seeingm.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/drinking-love/
-x.M
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Nothing like a cuppa sky Love. Thanks for the honey-coated squeeze, and the tea looks lovely! If I need a tea recommendation, I know who to call. I was pleased to discover rooibos in the mix. I’ve been enjoying that quite a bit of late in the office. I’m pretty addicted to sipping a warm beverage during the workday, and tea is a nice break from the diesel fuel that passes for coffee in our establishment… 🙂
Michael
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Michael, your thoughts are beautiful!
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Thank you, Zara. Much appreciated! And likewise!
Michael
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