A found poem, my first, the words of Julia Cameron taken from her book,
The Artist’s Way, Week 2: Recovering a Sense of Identity, (pp. 52-54).
Attention is an
Act of connection,
The world rich,
Throbbing with treasure
Beautiful souls,
Interesting people
A series of small
Miracles.
Clock the seasons,
And days
Stand knee-deep in the
Flow of life
And
Pay attention!
For the creative life involves
Great swathes of attention
Its reward?
Healing.
To connect,
And survive.
Its gift?
The capacity
for delight.
Pain becoming
Something more…
Valuable…
Each moment
The only safe place
Between a past too painful
To remember
And a future too terrifying
To contemplate
But this moment
Taken alone,
Always bearable
Our quality of life
Always in proportion
To our capacity for
Delight.
*This poem is dedicated:to my Dad, who taught me to “see,”
and to my husband, who graciously grants me the time and space to
“pay attention” in the midst of our crazy, busy life with a house
full of teens. I love you both!
Joining today with Tweetspeak Poetry’s Book Club discussion of The Artist’s Way.
A beautiful message, Cindee! Presented with awesome photos and wonderful words. Very very nice!
Polished, perfect and lovely.
PERFECT idea – a found poem in response to Julia. Thanks for this – and for your kind comments at my rather different response to this book. And yes, paying attention is at the heart of almost everything real, true and beautiful in this life, isn’t it?
Cindee–reading your poems is like drinking a cup of cool water…so lovely.
(and just for the record, you don’t sound at all cranky. although teenagers could do that to you….)
yes, yes, yes!
i love these chock-full-of-aliveness words
all weaved together dreamy smooth
and powerful,
strenghthening my “yes”
like breeze and sky and sea:)
big glad thanks,
Jennifer
A special tribute, thank you Dad, the Donster
Finally got here to see the finished version. WOW! The words and pictures are awesome. Once again you’ve reached a new level! Love, your greatest admirer!