Cynthia Sharp's Blog

I open to sky    clouds and blue summer   yield to the peace of lying still   back eases into alignment   injuries subside    this life I wish I’d shared with you    I surrender to solitude, creation and writing    focus   lying in wild flowers like I did in my twenties, wishing you were with me    that we hadn’t been cut apart.

It’s the kind of July day when mellow music drifts in windows over neighbours watering lawns. You could almost forget there’s a pandemic   in Vancouver a break from forest fires, water shortages and heat waves, for a few days or weeks, an almost normalcy.  

 

Sounds of peace open time    ducks, quiet, trees in wind   gardening, reading    the hail of uninterrupted leisure   of choice. I keep going back to the window, a calm, safe life beyond these walls, mild adventure, connection.

 

I dance dreams that are plays, existence a learning curve, starting and ending on gratitude.

 

That moment when the sky cools I look to the sun scapes the glass jars on the counter create on the wall, each one different   catching the light in a unique way   the black cherry jar a mirage of diamonds, now a hummingbird angel.

 

It’s one of those days when the clouds break up into millions, an explosion of atoms into universe and we lay orange flowers on lawns, a tribute to the heroes on frontlines.   

  

Five hour meditation perfect for my back   rest, rest, rest, then yoga   the relief of accomplishment, an explosion of bright color, living spirit, oxygen released like worlds bursting forth   my breath the sails propelling me along an ocean   let me be longer    at peace    hope like islands of grass in the sun

 

What to do with my perfectly restored meditative energy   learning to keep wellness for health and service   to let go 

 

Gratitude for real community and purpose, a culture of meaning and kindness. Just by being in the world you’ve taught me so much about self-acceptance and love. We stretch like July trees, realizing we’ve grown.

 

The lightness of free time, voices cycling past my window in summer evening, the signal of permission, children’s calls, the freedom of not having to be anywhere, the return of time.

 

We’re all ordinary these days and there’s something beautiful in that, our regular unstyled hair and selves. Accede, bow, stay home, stay safe, let the eagles carry our dreams.

First published in The Pitkin Review

 

Happy National Poetry Month & Earth Day Week! Thanks for checking out my retrospective of nature poems alongside my colleague and friend, the Poet Laureate Emerita of New Westminster, Candice James, along with guests from around North America: Watch the James-Sharp Retrospective

Thanks to everyone who joined us live on Wednesday and to all of you for taking the time to check out the video. The presentation is along the lines of an Albert Camus theme, “In the depth of winter I found there was within me an invincible summer.” May the light of all seasons fill and heal you. 

Watch November Flowers

Please join me for November Flowers, a free, online reading of my nature poetry at Facebook Live, Wednesday, November 25, at 7 PM PST. You can also email inthelightwt@gmail.com for a Zoom link.

Join November Flowers on Facebook Live

branches mingle into sky flowers 

a canopy of butterflies setting sail

the blossoming of talent

from a hidden cove of ideas

the work of the trunks

to manifest largely the kernel within

to dream in blends and bends of sea-green world

the magnificence and relief of standing tall

fluorescent fronds of tree fish 

swimming through phosphorescent foam

to a clear path of what we deserve to be

the mysticism of colour

the aura of the forest made tangible

ancient dragonflies, the esoteric heart of the world 

tasting creation

permission and freedom to go directly 

to where we most need and want to be

an island cocoon of love, light, safety    

in the communion of trees we learn

by steadily working   

day by day   season by season

stretching branches  

to finally flourish   brilliant

that self-actualization is for the good of all

our growth protects others

what feels right   must be

the evolution of consciousness 

mirroring meditation

Painting Leafy Lane by Jilly Watson

maturity, perseverancethe peace and rest of marrying solitude  sleeping with laptops and freedomthe quiescence of this second best life making a run for first placethe calm of pastel yellow wallsas I finally livein the nirvana of charactersthe stories I write just for mebecause they are soulyearning to be spoken

I just want it to be Wednesdayand spring poetrysounds and smells of ordinary the normalcy of Byron across the streetplayfully shovelling top soil in his gardento fertilize summer crops the possibility that it’s okay
permission to live simplyto enjoy the wealth of books I haveAudre Lorde this afternoonhealing recovery   breathing handling what we reasonably canto cultivate deep meaningwith a small number of people
I just want this to be Wednesday in the sunlight with cherry treesto curl up in bed with the partner I’m still hoping for and tell him everything I loved about our lifeclasp hands and remember all the funny moments of our decadesknowing we are blessedto have shared it all
scoop handfuls of yellow split peasand drop them slowly into a silver potto boil into carrot cabbage soupwith a dollop of real butterand a sprinkle of Atlantic sea salttime for dishes   the comfort of washing
grateful for electricity and running waterpalms and wrists in hot waterbiodegradable fragrance-free soap bubbling in the air 
the right to calm, to sabbaticaleven if only a day, a week, a monthmaternity leave for self-care fewer atmospheric pollutantsthis summer a break for the Earthfrom the intensity of firessimple pleasuresWednesday amid cherry blossoms

It’s time for billionaires to donate their excess to hospitals and vaccine research,for state funded higher education all the way upand a guaranteed annual income for every citizenin a rental space larger than a jail cell,for homelessness to be a rare personal choiceif it continues to exist at all,for everyone who wishes to self-actualizeas a professor, service provider, stay at home caregiver or whatever each unique set of aptitudes and desires manifests,to embrace fullness for all, a culture of securitywithout anyone slipping through cracks,fewer chasms to fall into and help for those who do,to value service above extremes of individual wealth,   to rest in work/life balance.    
It’s time to make Canada and every country decent for all,to switch over quickly to green energy,  celebrate the Earth breathing,in this rest from our exhaust,this reprieve from air travel pollution,give thanks for all those tasting clean air for the first time over Beijing,watch in amazement as whales glide into inlets,now that we’ve eased up on our flurry of noisy boat traffic,to save the planet and our well-being,to see that we can do bothand when it’s finally safe,to walk in sunlight and cherry blossoms,let sea wind moisturize my skinand once again dip bare feet in the swoosh of waves over the shore.

plinking piano notesshiver like falling stars spiral in a universe of twinkling atomspatterns unveiled into galaxiesvibrations of sound into colour meteors prayers through timepieces of brokenness sun within shadepages open to lightstory itself a phoenix rising anew from the ashes of the old the forgotten elevating into candescence

Peace is how I treat myself,including the right to maintain it,to staywith self, nature, focus, freedomwholeheartedlywithout interruption,the culture of frenzy vanishedfor real life trees outdoors harmonychosen thoughtslike a spring crocus bursting through ice, roots and buds holding strongat both ends of the spectrum.