'70'

some say Life 

is mostly making up

a song and dance

'it's all for show

it's all a game

of random chance'

but you two

have Lived your Lives

individually and communally

Gracefully and Faithfully

in such Real Ways

that reveal the more

Meaningful Melodies

and Heartfelt Harmonies

in the Sacred Song

the more Magnificent Movements

and Revelatory Rhythms

of the Divine Dance 

and helped so many

to raise their voices

and move their bodies

individually and communally

Gracefully and Faithfully 

and join together

in that Cosmic Choir

of Creation

and our Creator

that Eternal Ensemble

that exalts

the Majesty and Glory

of the Name

above all names 

all whilst balancing

two vocations and

three little relations

with one Hand

in one Heart

celebrating every June

naming every tune

facing every sunrise

embracing every moon

climbing every mountain

fording every stream

of challenging circumstance

with ebullient Endurance

and resilient Romance

and asking each other

time and time again

with a wink

and a glance

'Shall We Sing?

Shall We Dance?'

Seventy years on

you both continue

to Sing your Song

of Everlasting Love

and with deep gratitude

for each Day

and each Ray

of Light from Above

We Joyfully join you

and Sing along...

(Happy 70th Anniversary, dear Mom & Dad...i love you...brian)

(First pic is their engagement portrait, 1955...Second pic is from their 70th anniversary celebration, 2025...and PS...they 'celebrate every June' b/c their birthdays are 9 and 18 June 1933, respectively :)

#70YearsDoingAnythingIsAmazing #But70YearsDoingLifeTogetherInLoveIsMiraculous 

spinning faster

so Today 

will apparently

be shorter

than Yesterday

(we're talking

mere milliseconds)

because Our

Miraculous Home

is revolving

at speeds

measurably higher

than usual

for reasons

more Mysterious

than scientists

can explain

perhaps it

is due

to shrinking

icecaps upon

or slowing

magma within

our Earth

but regardless

it feels

like our

whirling Planet

might be

sending us

swirling signs

in these

trying seasons

to remind

our hurtling

Minds and

hurting Hearts

that reacting

to changes

that reflect

more how

we're evolving 

than devolving

in ways

more heartless

than harmless

is impacting

our Bodies

and Beings

our Psyches

and Spirits

(reverting Us

into whirling

dervishes of

swirling nervousness

curdling our

blood rather

than cradling

our Belovedness)

so what

if taking

some time

to stop

spinning faster

towards potentially

fatal disaster

(we're talking

mere nanoseconds)

and Pause

and Breathe

and Remember

and Believe

that our

innately Divine

Worth is

immeasurably Higher

than our

fears will

ever factor

(resisting the

irrepressible temptation

to lash

out in

fright and

fatefully plaster 

Each Other

with blame

and shame)

We might

Respectfully refrain

Faithfully shine

our Light

and lavish

Each Other

with Love

that leads

to All

of Us

enacting a

New Birth

where We

end up

Winning faster

with Redemptive

Joy and

Restorative Justice

and Grinning 

Laughter in

the Sacred

Unity of

Beloved Community

We are

in the

Gloriously Radiant

Here and

Now and

Forever After?

Let It Be.

(Inspired by this phenomenon that occurred today... https://www.space.com/astronomy/earth/earth-will-spin-faster-on-july-22-to-create-2nd-shortest-day-in-history)

#235wordprayers #PausingInParadise #SlowingDownInTheSpirit #ReconnectingWithTheRhythm #RediscoveringJoyForTheJourney #WeAreStillOne 

Incarnation of Interdependence

on this Day

when We celebrate

Our declaration

of Independence

from tyranny

may we (re)dedicate

Our Selves to

Our Incarnation

of Interdependence

in Liberty

the Sacred You-and-Me

that constitutes 

the Beloved Community

welcoming All Beings

huddled and Hallowed

yearning to Breathe Free

seeing no strangers

but only Parts

of Our Hearts

and Our Selves We

have not met yet

and may We

never forget

that living out

Revolutionary Love

involves giving up

convolutionary fear

(which devolves Us

into heartlessly shaming

and disgracing each other)

and revolves around

laying down arms

of desperate violence

and opening up Arms

of Infinite Silence

which empowers Us

into Heartfelt sharing

and embracing Each Other

as the One Body

of Divine Love

We already Are

Breathing and Being

and needing Each Other

and greeting each Day

as the Gift

It already Is

where we Celebrate

our Interconnection

as One Cosmically

(In)Carnal Reality...

Let It Be.

#150wordprayers #HappyInterdependenceDay2025 #TodayWeCelebrate #TomorrowAndEachDayForwardWeBreatheAndPushAndIncarnateAndDemonstrateRevolutionaryLove

('Statue of Liberty' © Otis Porrit)

more Love than fears (for 35 Years)

Thirty-five years

of more Love

and Laughter

than fears

(though plenty

of tears for

situational sorrows

and relational Joy)

have left me

with fewer words

and more Wonder

at what Love

has joined together

that no one

or no thing

has rent asunder

all that might

have destroyed

and buried Us

the blunders

and thunders

of brokenness

and unspokenness

the flurries

of worries

about narrowing finalities

and harrowing Realities

and the uncertainties

of imagined tomorrows

the many things

that could drive 

Us down onto

the wailing Floor

that can also

remind Us

of the prevailing

Flow beneath Us

and between Us

that empowers Us

to authentically Adore

and dovetailingly Engage

in this erratic

and Ecstatic Dance

the Resurrectional Rhythm

of the Love

that married Us

to Each Other

and deployed Us

to bear It

and share It

with All Others

that leaves Us

with this chance

to offer up

Thirty-five Cheers

and Sighs

and Laughs

and (Hope-fully)

many more...

Thanks.

#160wordprayers #FourFortyWordPrayersForOneAndThreeQuarterScoreYearsOfLifeConceivedInTheLibertyOfLove #HalfOfSeventyAccordingToPoppy #35YearsGetsYouStephanieInnAtCannonBeach #LoveYouKLM

puddles and muddles...Ripples and Revelations (*Memorial Day 2025)

Sitting alone on a rainy Monday.

Memorial Day.

A day to remember all those who have given their lives in the service of their country, bravely and sacrificially engaging in the tragic and seemingly unavoidable human irony of 'fighting for Peace'.

Looking out my front window from my candlelit desk.

Jotting some very random thoughts onto a very regulated (lined) note pad.

And then something unexpected caught my eye and captured my attention for a few fleeting moments.

A blue jay.

It's brilliant plumage puncturing the grimy grey of the stormy day.

Landing on a yard of recently roto-tilled dirt dotted with newly-planted bushes and trees.

Hopping its merry way over the humus. pecking at the peat moss. scratching away at the surface of the soil. searching for some seeds.

And plopping into a puny, provisional 'pond' on the edge where the sidewalk and soil meet.

The puddle having appeared as the result of a sprinkler head snapping off and water slowly seeping into the ground.

For the faithful keepers of the grounds and myself, a minor annoyance soon to be remedied by a remodeled drip irrigation system.

For the blue jay, a bounteous, blessed basin in which to bathe.

A makeshift millpond of mud in which to be washed.

Face refreshed, feathers flushed, and flying away in a matter of seconds.

And wee, winsome waves, remnants from rustling wings, gently rippling through the water.

i encounter a puddle appearing in the 'wrong' place resulting from a human-made system breaking down. and all i can see is a 'problem' to be solved by more human-made ingenuity.

A bird sees some dirty water that can make her clean.

People experience circumstances in life and brokenness in humanity that create caverns of confusion and conundrums of conflict, tiny puddles of pain in our psyches that transform into tumultuous torrents of muddle in our souls. And all we seem to do is rage against the machinery that has mangled our manifest destinies, and then manufacture new machinery to counteract those maniacal powers that have seemingly harrowed our hopes and destroyed our dreams.

Nature seems to face circumstances as they come, and simply works with whatever life provides to move forward.

We live to eat and fight for Peace.

A bird eats to live and flies in Peace.

And i'm reminded that the extent to which we are willing to give our lives is connected to what is essential in order to live our lives.

And that the sordid squalor in which we so often wallow and wrestle could actually be the Sacred Sanctuary in which we more often Wander and Wonder.

And that a tiny ripple in an inadvertent puddle can be the catalyst of remembrance, and contain the Reverberations of Revelation. 

(NOTE: This is NOT the one that landed in my yard. For once, i was too busy actually paying attention to and engaging in the life right before my eyes rather than distracting myself by trying to 'capture' it, and missing the Revelations that came enfolded in its curious careening.

(*Written on Memorial Day 2013...and for some reason, not published until Memorial Day 2025)

collapses and Synapses

trying to drift

off to sleep

but the wait

for my Psyche

to softly slip

in to sleep 

is increasingly stretched

out to lengths

untenable and unbearable

by the weight

of the world

(apparently unrepairable)

hurtling down from

the heavens like

boulders of lead

upon my head

swirling like dervishes 

of despair converging

into a taught

knot of terrorizing

tightness and frightness 

in my chest

swelling like tsunamis

of bludgeoning blame

and secret shame

within my Soul

(seemingly unsharable) 

demeaning my Self

for not beaming

more Hopeful Light

into a World

curling in upon

Its Self amidst

being battered by

the relentless waves

of ignorant ignominy

and monstrous misogyny

and shameless greed

and endless need

with petulant progeny

stirring up animosity

(rather than fostering

our innate inter-relationality)

and supposedly 'fulfilling

ancient prophecy' in

ways far more

divisive than Divine 

and rendering any

fleetingly flailing energy

to embody empathy

as daunting drudgery

in failing lethargy

leaving me feeling

like a dope

waiting for Godot

(or a plume

of Pope smoke)

to help me

cope with wondering

if i have

any room left

within my Soul

(scared and scarred

and barely Sacred)

to even care

about our Cosmology

or our Community

or our Humanity

which drives me

to a place

ravaged and bare

where the only

Water to share

are my tears

of aching despair...

and it's right

in that moment

of possible collapse

that the Light

sparks a synapse

in my Psyche

that transforms my

fear-based flagellations into

a Love-embraced Revelation 

that maybe 

it's when

i feel like

i don't care 

(weepily)

about anything

(or anyone)

that i find

i do care 

(Deeply)

about Everything

(and Everyone)

and so

i let go

of the rope

onto which (not 

from which) i 

had been hanging

and allow my

Self to slow

down and settle

my head into 

the pillow that 

had been serving 

as a wall 

into which i 

had been banging

whilst lying

and sighing

and crying

and dying

and trying

to Rest...

Thanks.

#333wordprayers #Eastertide2025 #LetGoAndLetLove #FaithfulReleaseCanUnleashJusticeAndPeace

('Synapses' © Corrina Chirila)

the First City

the last Time

i hurtled through

Space and Time

at a speed

and a height

that mere Humans

were not Created

to safely endure

for a distance

that my Forebears

could barely survive

from one shining

Sea to Another

through an Ocean

of Spacious Sky 

it was clear

enough to see

another sparkling Sea

(not quite Superior

but Great nonetheless)

with a City

on the shore

(not a hill

but shining nonetheless)

shimmering with Promise

and expansive (yet

unjustly expensive) Hope

and i Marveled 

at this Hallowed

and Heavenly sight

like a dream

manifest in Reality

(which i would

one Day see

for my Self)...

but this Time

the view is

murky and clouded

by stormy Skies

which both disguise

and sadly surmise

the sordid state

of our dis-union

the raging disease

of man-infest destinies

and turbulent tyrannies

enacted and exacted

by wanna-be dictators

disposing of essential

Human Rights whilst

posing for fame

overcompensating for their

insecurities and uncertainties

by blowing lots

of hot air

to douse the

Embers of Equity

and Humane Equality

(which only rouses

them into Flame)

blurring the Vision

of our Divine

sense of Mission

with a desperate

attempt at political

and sociological fission

like our Existence 

is some kind

of maniacal game...

yet whilst shrouded

mists of mayhem

reign supreme below

there is Grace

ever shining Above

the frantic fray

a Radiant Canopy

of Resplendent Love

with Space to

Breathe in deeply

a soothing Breeze

of Sacred Spirit

and to see

a Beautiful Vision

that extends beyond

a Second City

to the First

of Its Kind

where it's cool

to be Kind

where the cruel

are given Light

to recognize the

Rays of Revealing

that illuminate all

that paralyzing fear

has been concealing

giving new Sight

to the blind

and new Delight

to all who

Seek (and Find

that We are

already Found and

Freed) never bound

to any system

or religion or

philosophy or creed

but only to 

our Eternal Lover

and Each Other

and our need

to be there

for Each Other

Together in all

kinds of weather

through all Time...

Thank You.

#350wordprayers #Eastertide2025 

(Two pictures from 35,000 feet...one three years ago, the other yesterday...)