Tag Archives: identity

Talking With the Devil

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trunks crossing

The devil says,
Here’s some nice good for you —
Where do you want me to put
the bad stuff?
You could put in on those other people,
call them enemies,
or put it in events and call it fate,
I can hide it deep inside you
where you’ll mostly never see it,
you can take it with you everywhere you go
Or I can let you pull it out and wear it like a badge,
proud that you’re not hiding anything

Then tell the devil:
No, I’m not signing.
My good is mine already
and it doesn’t need your seal,
It doesn’t need the bad you offer
to contain it or define it,
doesn’t need to be legitimized by you

You tell the devil no —
There is no place
in the grand sphere of all my being
for your lies.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 23, 2015

A Place

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suntouched trees2

There is a place for you,
an ever present opening
in the dynamic slipstream
of the now

There is a way for you to enter
and be fully integrated
in the endless flow
of life supporting life

There is a welcoming
whose chords touch every harp string
of your being, sending the chiming
of your life song
rolling out and out along the hills

There is a need for you,
and where you are
the need is met.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 22, 2015

When You Know Who You Are

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Edward in Marcola2

You get refocused on the inside —
All the vectors realigned,
the causes reconceived,
a subtle but essential shifting
where all your elements
fit better, settle

And in the new-felt points of contact
a surprise thrill —
Enough to power
all the things you suddenly
can see you’re here to do,
enough to light your flare
so others see you
and you see them, too.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 11, 2015

Wrestling

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First Bud

I was wrestling my mind —
Oh, it was stubborn
and tenacious and strong.
It fought like something wild
struggling for its life.
I pried a finger up
but it grabbed back again,
harder, in another place —
It didn’t want surrender

I let it run awhile,
pacing like a caged cougar
along the old trails,
assuming, soon, the steady
disconnected trot
of one who must keep moving
but has no place to go

I challenged it: This is not
what you want, I said.
It turned to cling to me —
It would not listen
or let go

Till finally I saw
neither of us could win this battle
(so equally matched we were)
We had to give it up
for something higher,
Let ourselves, together,
be embraced,
be washed,
be tickled,
be home.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 2, 2015

photo by Jennifer Lopez-Santillana

Days Like This

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magnuson wetland2

Days like this, I feel
No one will be left behind.
We’ll all do this together
(astonishing as that may seem
when we appear so atomized,
so caught up in the stream of
everything we never wanted)

We’ll all do this together,
each impelled to take the daring leap alone —
We’ll jump up in unison
and look around
in gratitude and surprise
to see that no one is left behind
in the great claiming
of everything we’re called upon to be.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 28, 2015

Alignment

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far oak close

I am not astonished
at all that falls away —
I have so little time to notice,
for the cause
to which I find myself inherently aligned
reveals itself so vast
that there are no edges —
just the rapid sudden rise of color,
close and quick, enveloping,
overwhelming any standpoint
that could put it in perspective,
overwriting everything,
filling me so comprehensively
that I could never want anything else,
owning me
just as (I now see)
it always has.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 19, 2015

Crucible

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far oak1

Oh, these things we are so proud of
and the things of which we’re so ashamed.
these things that cling to who we think we are,
these things we carefully arrange,
These things we call ourselves
and what we call each other
all must melt
in the rising heat of change

And what we are
beneath our self stories,
What we are
beneath all our facades
will seem a small coal
when we first see it
but we will know we must acknowledge it
as ours

As ashes fall away, we’ll see the glow,
and as we hold to it, we’ll see it grow:
It will survive the fire,
it will endure —
It may be faint as yet
but it is pure.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 18, 2015

A Great Calm

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calm

This is a great calm.
This is the calm of beginnings,
of the virgin field

This is the calm of a warm core,
liquid and unformed,
brewing place for strong motion

This is the calm
of a darkness so great
there’s no room for anything but trust

Trust in the warm core
and what forms there,
Trust in the autopoiesis of everything
Trust in the harmony to which
we all are drawn
when we leave our schemes behind
and enter the great calm.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 17, 2015

Everything We Need

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carkeek7

Everything you need is here.

This is not something to talk about —
Come here:

Your eyes are half the amulet,
My eyes can be the other,
Your heart, your hands,
are half the story —
Joined, we will complete the arc:

Everything we need is here.

It takes no more than willingness,
No more than the desire
inherent in living,
No more than open presence
to ignite the ever waiting spark
that sets the current surging
on and on in affirmation
of what we’re here for,
everything we need.

©Wendy Mulhern
January 13, 2015

photo by Eric Mulhern