Author: still a dreamer

Bones

/ still a dreamer

Although I wrote this poem December 4 and had made a few edits, I intended to tighten it up further and submit it before the deadline to children’s book author David Harrison’s blog. He has a poetry contest each month, writing to a specific topic. December’s was “Bones.” I’m guessing with the holidays, my intentions got lost in the shuffle as I missed the deadline, so I’m posting it here. If interested, David’s topic for January is “Time.”

BONES

In violet, indigo and dusky blue,
they shadow their bones
across silver snow
in the sharp morning sun.

They bare their essence
and nod in silence
to admiring passersby.

Standing tall
in their most primitive selves
they are visions
of grace and pride.

I am Oak.
I am Ash.
I am Poplar.

Soon enough
Spring will come
cloaking their branches in
effusive greens,
in camouflage,
and playful disarray.

But for winter …

I am my bones.

Jeanne Balsam
December 2009

New Year’s Intentions

/ still a dreamer

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? You’re not alone; many people do. I used to make them, too, until I realized I pretty much knew what it was I had to do, commit to, change. But then, recently, I came across something in a local metaphysical-type publication called natural awakenings. It was an article about setting New Year’s intentions.

Tony Burroughs talks about how New Year’s intentions are infinitely more powerful than resolutions and how they put the laws of manifestation to work. He talks about how positive and powerful words, serving the highest and best of the Universe, will manifest not only the greatest good for ourselves, but for all mankind. Understanding that our thoughts, words and actions create the future  and that we use them for the highest and best will bring us the joy we seek.

I visited Tony Burroughs’ web site and found it to have a lot of information about how to buy books and DVD’s or to join Intenders’ circles. But The Code itself has its own page, and here are the Ten Intentions for a Better World that inspired me to write this post. Check out The Code: Ten Intentions for a Better World and see if they resonate with you as a way to start 2010.

Happy New Year!

Winter Solstice

/ still a dreamer

Today is the Winter Solstice — the longest night in the year and the official beginning of Winter. Tomorrow there will be a gradual return to more daylight as each day passes.

But today is Solstice. A day of reflection, of peace, of quiet gratitude for the beauty of this Earth. Celebration of the Solstice had its origins in ancient times when people feared that their light source, the sun, who they worshipped as a god, was dying, leaving them without warmth and abundance. They developed rituals to bring back the light which culminated on the Solstice, gathering greenery, lighting bonfires, and reveling with music and dance.

Although the world is dark and especially cold, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, it is a wonderful time to look at the moon and sky and be thankful for all we have. It is a wonderful time to reflect, to forgive, and look to the year to come. Peace.

Fast, Riveting Read – Moon Called

/ still a dreamer

Sometimes I like to read literature, read in my field, (children’s books), something enlightening and inspiring, or perhaps a good, complex novel. I like a variety of things.

Sometimes I am in a place where I want to read something totally engaging which sucks me in hard and doesn’t let me go until I’m done and all but spits me out.

And that’s what I got when I read Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. A writer friend’s husband thought I might like this, (how did he get my number?!), and lent it to me. Was he right! Now I wouldn’t have actually sought out a book written in first person by a woman who’s a Volkswagen mechanic and who’s also a coyote shapeshifter, and whose life is intertwined with werewolves. I wouldn’t have known it existed. But now I do.

What a fast, fabulous, can’t-put-it-down novel! The storyline is solid and very well told with just the right amount of factual information woven in about werewolves to keep the plot moving along, but never leaving me feel like I was being educated. Our heroine, Mercedes Thompson, a.k.a. Mercy, is a well-developed, engaging character. The pace is very fast, and wrapped around Mercy’s friend Stefan, a vampire, a witch who is a “cleaner”, and some involvement of the local fae, it’s totally absorbing.  The backdrop is the local werewolf clan, headed by Mercy’s next door neighbor and pack Alpha, Adam.

I realize as I write this, that Moon Called could sound almost hokey, but truly, it’s not. It’s a complex story in the nature and motives of the characters and very well-written. So much so, that you’ll see that the book I am now reading is the next in the Mercy Thompson series, Blood Bound. I can only hope it’s as good!