The Spiral Library
An experimental space to hold collections of musings, inspiration, creation, questions, answers, thoughts, feelings, etc. A bit like a blog but... different and ever evolving.
Poem №051
What is a poem?
Sometimes a prayer,
A spell cast into the universe,
Or a message in a bottle
Dropped into an infinite sea
Words strung together
We build little boats
Hoping they’ll transport us
Sometimes just a list
Made up of truths
Or grief
Or wishes
Little by little
Line by line
Opening the heart
Refocusing our attention
Poem №050
How much easier
It would have been
To give up
A thousand times over
To choose the warn path
Walking in the footsteps
Of generations of avoidance
Toward a slow death
Into a pit of darkness and suffering
But we couldn’t bear it
We imagined another way
And found the support we needed
To do the painful work
Of stepping directly
Into the discomfort
Through the portals of grief
We moved toward
An unsettlingly
Unfamiliar freedom
Into the embrace
Of loving ourselves
We made it possible
To truly love one another
Wide open and honest
Poem №049
There is nothing left to say
I’m no longer willing
To betray myself for your comfort
I’m moving toward truth
While you remain blinded by fear
One day, I hope you’ll join me here
But know this: I won’t be coming back your way
Poem №048
It was our fairy tail
Floating on the saltwater sea
Holding hands
Seaweed tickling our toes
Cradled by the waves
The sun setting in the bright blue sky
We watched the golden light
Touch the moss drenched cypress trees
A coyote dashed across the sand
We were wide eyed in awe
Beauty in every little detail
This is our fairy tail
Oh how I love you
Oh how I love this love
Poem №047
Aftershocks rage through my body
Fifteen years past the main event
Pain that is deep and unrelenting
To fight it is to press into the bruises
The invitation is to surrender
But how can I trust myself
to make it to the other side?
Poem №046
I want to protect you
Little butterfly
Wings so delicate
But oh how you fly
Can I trust the world
To leave you whole?
I’m so afraid it will
Try to tear you down
From where you soar.
And it may try
In fact, I know it will
It tries with all of us.
But you, my love,
Are stronger in your core
Than the iciest of hateful winds
You see the light
Deep inside the dark
You know the layers
Far below the surface
You may look delicate
But you are fierce
Bringing big change
Lead the way
And I’ll be here
A witness to every miracle
You orchestrate
And every gift you share
So openly with the world
My little bitterly
Oh how you fly
Poem №045
Where do I end
and you begin?
I love you
with the very essence
of my being
and it hurts
deep aching love
My heart lives
outside myself
in you
precious one
I was reborn
with you
a catalyst
onto a new path
They say
our children
are our greatest teachers
But I had no idea
that you would
open my heart
this wide
I love you
my little romantic one
sunshine and moonbeam
joy expressed
deep feeling
expander
You are everything
and I hold you in my heart
and dwell in yours
Poem №044
Today I am…
Earth tether
Hold me
When the world
Shakes
Catch me
When the
Ground breaks
Know me
When I
Don’t know
Show me
Where you are
There I am
Anchored
We are connected
Never separate
Great mother
Bring me home
Hold me close
Poem №043
It’s safe
To let go
Let crack
Break open
Spill out
You aren’t too much
The universe is vast
Let yourself be large
You are uncontainable
You are complex
You are living
Breathing
Being
You don’t need
To hold yourself
Together anymore
It’s safe
To let go
Be you
Messy
Raw
Vulnerable
Whole
Your tender heart
What a gift
Poem №042
The practice
must be organic
ebb then flow
ocean dance
saltwater surrender
deep exhale
lost in the spiral
we return anew
and then repeat
you’ll get familiar
with discomfort
she’ll be
your companion
a hand to hold
release resistance
grow toward the light
but don’t forget the dark
Poem №041
There are certain lessons
you can only learn through living
It was never about perfection
or getting it right
Your job
is to show up
to the practice
and bear witness
to what arises
on the path into
the great unknown
The challenge
is to meet yourself
with curiosity
questioning
what you thought you knew
All along the way
you’ll have to choose
the next right step
on a nonlinear
spiraling path
And each time you face
a lesson you thought
you’d already learned
You’ll be invited
to surrender
to the journey
and find compassion
for your process
Remember this
courageous one:
You don’t walk
the path alone
There’s infinite expansion
in the practice
And perfection
was always
a dead-end road
Poem №040
Wonder to the edge of hope
throw yourself into the space
where everything you thought you knew
meets everything you never dared say out loud
Let yourself imagine
the unimaginable
Paint the sky with the
vivid colors of your dreams
Watch your world
turn upside down
Face the fear
of letting go
breaking down
cracking open
no return
He said I contain multitudes
Now look at you
on the edge of hope
larger than life
expanding in a whole new way
Poem №039
I will choose
This path
Back to myself
A thousand times
Before
It feels familiar
Poem №038
Upon waking
I want nothing more
Than to escape
Falling back
Asleep
There’s no relief
I’m turned
Upside down
By my subconscious
This kind of sleep
Magnifies
The anxious mind
Back into
The unforgiving
Waking world
I face the ache
Of avoiding discomfort
Poem №037
A fork in the road
And I’m paralyzed by
The unknowable
Poem №036
Mom!
Ready?
Yes!
They climb to the top
joy beaming from
their triumphant grins.
Over their shoulders
they look to me
for proof of my
unwavering attention.
The air
smells like summer
and we have
nowhere else to be
but here.
Poem №035
From the origin of you
I arrived in a flood
Of life and blood
In the cradle of your arms
You found belonging in my being
Finally, a place to attach meaning
You held on tight
Determined never to let go
Of the unconditional love
Finally, within your grasp
But nothing
Could ever
Fill the shape
Of the empty place
Where your own love
Belongs
Poem №034
Birth is an alarming entry
From the dark cave
Of a mother’s womb
We are spit out
Into the wilderness
Of an unforgiving world
And we begin the journey
Raw, vulnerable,
With the jagged edges
Of all the unlearned lessons
From every life you’ve already lived
Like rough stones
Dropped into an ocean,
Our life becomes a series
Of ebbs and flows
As each wave pulls us
This way and that,
Smoothing out our rough edges,
Dragging us through
The same lessons
Again and again
Though you will resist
With all your strength,
Your first invitation:
Is to release the control
You never really had,
And to surrender yourself
To the experience of returning
Again and again
To the lesson you thought you learned,
The pain you thought you healed,
And to return
To the most jagged
Of wounded edges,
The ones that ask
For the kind of healing
That requires
A lifetime
Of being rolled
Over and over
In the inner ocean
And slowly, but slowly,
As you meet your many layers
With the intimacy
Of a lifelong partner
As you become the adoring
Companion of your own heart
And the roughest
Of your edges soften
You’ll find the pearl
Of unconditional love
That resides within you
Polished by a lifetime
Of being nurtured by
Your inner ocean
Poem №033
Lost in a fog
Disconnected
Uncomfortable
Uncertain
Of the ground
Beneath my feet
Longing for the safety
In belonging
I can’t find my way back
To anything familiar
And I drift further
Into the fog
Until I finally
I give up the fight
And let go
In surrender.
Get quiet
Listen closely
To the very thing
You’re avoiding
Give voice
To the lost part
Do the unthinkable
And step fully
Into the discomfort
Let it rise within
Let it take you under
And in the surrender
Watch the fog lift
As you come up for air
Feel yourself release
In relief
As your feet
Touch the ground
Again
Poem №032
I was someone else
Entirely years ago
Before I broke free
“You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.”
—
Eckhart Tolle