How Mercy Looks From Here by Amy Grant

I’m listening to Amy Grant’s new CD.   It is beautiful.  Excellent, lovely, and true.  There is a “Lyric Video” for “Don’t Try So Hard (with James Taylor)” at Amy’s site. http://www.amygrant.com

This seems to be a time to listen and read, and write a little less.  I’ll keep sharing here.  I love the conversation in the Comments, and enjoy responding sometimes here, sometimes at your site, and sometimes quietly visiting when a little tired, and knowing it’s okay to be silent.

Blessings, and thanks for your posts and friendship,

Ellen

Help Thanks Wow by Anne Lamott

Today is a day to celebrate and treasure.  I am actually writing with the window open.  The birds are singing.

I’m reading HELP THANKS WOW The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott (2012, Riverhead Books, NY).

I always feel I can do better work when someone speaks about imperfections with love and grace.

“Help, Thanks, Wow” covers a lot.

I know I need help,

and I know gratitude is very important,

and oh to praise.

flower-bloom

warm air
rises from the earth
nature’s praise

Ellen

Image: antiqueclipart.com.

nothing could be

nothing could be
more beautiful
than the trees
and their new leaves
beginning
except for when
they are in full
summer green
and then turn
their autumn colors
and then are their
wise winter selves
waiting for spring
again

I wrote a lot this morning, and then as I rested this poem was given to me – another spring to look out the same windows.  Now that I’ve been here awhile, I can picture each season in the yard. Ellen

ponds and rivers

ponds and rivers
in the fields
drought healed
and farmers
wait to plant

* * *

Many of you liked this haiku in memory and hope last year – thank you.

Mother’s Day
sorrow turns to stars
and butterflies

* * *

I discovered Ida Waugh (d. 1919) at Reusableart.com.  This picture was published in 1880.  http://www.reusableart.com

kids-playing-13

a quiet Monday

calendar_May_06

I stopped at Book World in Sheboygan this morning, and the first magazine that caught my eye was ARTFUL BLOGGING.  If you wish, you can see the new cover here:  http://www.artfulblogging.com.  I’ve read this magazine before and enjoyed it, and so bought the new issue.

Walking into the yard just now, the beginnings of a new poem began in my mind.  Once upon a time, in my life, I did not know the shapes of the leaves and what they would become, or their names.  Language is one of the greatest gifts.  I’m sure many of you would add: and cameras, paint, brushes, and many other supplies – also other forms of language.  I love reading your reflections, and the wide vocabulary across many blogs, with my love of words.  Truly a gift to be cherished- each of our gifts.

Thinking of Mother’s Day soon, and some of the health problems I saw my mother weather, I can also say that her spirit grew ever more loving even when some things were lost.  Then I read to her.  It was actually hard for me to return to everyday life after her passing in 2004.  But I did live in another state for years.  So gradually things “returned to normal:” in different locations once again.  Not so far away.  We worked hard on our friendship too, discussed many things, and loved unconditionally.  She gave me this love of language.

all the green leaves
growing through
old brown leaves
daffodils
tulips
primroses
poppies
ground covers
cotoneaster bushes too
and the kind people
in the stores
guardian angels

* * *

The calendar is courtesy of wpclipart.com.

Short Poems For May

Reblogged from My Best Short Nature Poems:

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blue skies and
willows turning gold
Mother's Day

Gentle spring winds
in evergreen trees
the friendship we grew

for Enola Borgh, in loving memory

* * *

Spring and summer
poetry journals
in the mail
birds singing outside
my open window

* * *

gulls lifting
from the sand
corn an inch tall

* * *

poems often read
returning to mind…

Read more… 97 more words

Thought I'd share this collection here too - poems new for some readers, and "old" for others. Hope you enjoy, Ellen

THF “Per Diem for May: Look to the Sky!” – Gene Murtha, Guest Editor – bird haiku

bird-singing

This morning I read Jim Kacian’s May 1, 2013 post on troutswirl, The Haiku Foundation blog.  I was delighted to learn that bird haiku are featured this month – one haiku a day, selected by Gene Murtha.  Jim’s introduction includes commentary by Gene, a haiku poet and birdwatcher.

The Per Diem haiku are published on THF home page: http://www.thehaikufoundation.org.

Here’s a link to troutswirl: http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/blog.

The “bird singing” picture is from antiqueclipart.com.  I also love this winter picture from the same site.

birds-broken-pot