Monthly Archives: August 2011

When there’s a hole in the world

When the beloved dies, let us be ready to ask in love: What will you miss? What did you not do you wish you had? What specific thing can you do to carry out in a larger way what you wish you could do? How can you make the world whole despite the fact that there is now a hole in the world?

:- Doug.

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carries a sacred function:

Conversation carries a sacred function. It bears a generative force, for what we can speak can be; what we hear can be. Conversation is holy work because it is about hearing hope out into the open where it can go to work. It is about hearing our own voices and those of others. Story, hope, hearing, supporting, participating, creating: this is conversation’s progression. These, done consciously, are holy, yes?

:- Doug.

  1. Conversation carries a sacred function. It bears a generative force, for what we can speak can be; what we hear can be. Conversation is holy work because it is about hearing hope out into the open where it can go to work. It is about hearing our own voices and those of others. Story, hope, hearing, supporting, participating, creating: this is conversation’s progression. These, done consciously, are holy, yes?

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She gave up

She gave up
a career to care for her
mother, declining
but all she gave away
was ambition
to get the giving

:- Doug.

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Inheriting responsibility

We are heirs
We inherit all the gifts
All the responsibility

:- Doug.

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Why speak to the future?

Why speak to the future?

:- Doug.

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Wills are about this:

Wills are about this: how much
life
can your last words give?

:- Doug.

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20 Common Nursing Home Problems

The National Senior Citizens Law Center has just republished its eye-opening guide. A single free copy can be downloaded here: http://www.nsclc.org/publications/manuals/manual.2006-06-08.3692004924

For instance, did you know:

–A relative does not have to sign as responsible for the elder’s nursing home bills?

–Relatives can visit any time of day or night?

–A resident can choose when to wake up and when to go to bed?

This is handy reading….

:- Doug.

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What good could 20 ordinary folks do…?

What good could 20 ordinary folks do together that one keep-it-for-my-own person won’t?

:- Doug.

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Two gardens

Two gardens we are given to tend
The one within our fence
The one without, embracing it

:- Doug.

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Can we do better?

Ask again
Can we
Do better?

:- Doug.

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Way to start a grandparent’s tale:

Way to start a grandparent’s tale: In a land of surprise this is what happened tomorrow.

:- Doug.

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The summer’s come on so suddenly

The summer’s come on so suddenly
& now is nearly gone
the seasons come round so quickly
they leave my head spinning
The older I get the faster spins
the reel of remaining tape
Yet if we look
we may catch glimpse
of what & how divinity sees
how many things fit together
& where & who & why
This is a gift of elderhood
this time-space from which to see
a larger view

:- Doug.

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What are your pictures of death?

In this country we are fixated on death, and as a bad thing. It might be whole-making. We so fear death that our only pictures are of debilitation, even when we hear stories of people dying peacefully, perhaps with families gathered round.

:- Doug.

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Dragonflies

The sun
and the wind
& the dragonflies
are one

and sitting among
all these
you and I
with them
are one

hawk wheeling above
dew glittering
cars with
pavement singing
are one

tree frogs
not heard
but deafening
remind us all
are one

storm & thunder
greening gardens
destruction & babies
even politicians
are one

sweat and
all breath and
one last breath
are one

:- Doug.

Posted in Healing and Wholeness, Poetry | Leave a comment