Tag Archives: vision

Ark Building

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We have our instructions:
In the face of great violence,
build an ark.

So much violence in the land,
no one is even talking about it —
afraid, as they may be,
of bringing down the wrath upon their heads,
lulled, as they may be,
by the vehemence of misdirecting tales

Violence to the land,
Violence to the people,
Violence to their structures of support:
Build an ark.

Make it out of circles of our arms,
Make is out of clear communication,
Make it from the habit
of open-hearted caring,
Make it with room for everyone

Make it out of work that serves the earth,
that builds the chains of life supporting life,
Make it from our trueness,
Make it with our hearts,
Make it from the clearness of our vision.

Build the ark.
Let all the creatures in —
No point in a war against the violence —
As we build, our worth will lift us up
Upon the sea that reconfigures all.

©Wendy Mulhern
June 23, 2013


Still

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In the absence of words
the mind still does its melodies
sometimes with attention,
sometimes not,
and images may rise to meet the tunes

In the absence of conscious thought
the breath of life can still entrance —
so many variations to its inrush,
so many swirls within the currents
of its outward flow

In the absence of direction
the heart’s impulse, still present,
guides the mind into the stillness
before the words —
the quiet spring,
the soft upwelling
of what most needs to be heard.

©Wendy Mulhern
June 19, 2013


Fluidity

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From flashes in the corner of my eye
I start to sense
that what I operationally
have called reality
is completely fluid,
unanchored as water —
Which helps explain
the many times I’ve fallen through
when leaning into something
that I thought was real.

What I have called reality
is as fluid as thought
and changes just as deftly
as a dream —
Not only in the sense of what is now,
but also in my thought
of everything that’s gone before

Fluid as thought
And anchored only in the forces
that control its waves
that weave the grand and languid dance
that nothing stops —
Each impulse’s momentum
playing out its power
Nothing forgotten
in the rolling course of life.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 25, 2013


Light effects

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I saw this as a movie in my mind,
I heard its soundtrack in my thoughts,
I understood:
This is a picture of the way we are,
the way we move:

The medium in which we danced
seemed to be thick,
Seemed to slow our motion
and deflect our light
into many bouncing flecks —
Square-shaped, fading in and out
So it was hard to see
just where — and when — we were.

We didn’t worry that we were arrested
or restrained
or blocked
or yet dispersed
within the semi-opaque thickness.
We knew all that was just a trick of light
And that our impulse
was as strong and clear
as it had always been
and that we owned it
and the medium could never slow us down.

So we could watch it
and play with its effects
And use our undiminished vigor
to enact our purpose
And wait to see
how it would be interpreted
in this thick, slow place
wherein we seem to walk.

©Wendy Mulhern
April 18, 2013


Focusing

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This realigning of what matters
is like a massive shift in focus
in which vertical lines
trade places with each other
and what I thought was space between
is coming into view as solid
and what I thought was solid
may turn out to not be anything.

And in my reassessment
I still haven’t found
the rare bird
on which I hoped my lens was trained
but those leaves
in bright and waxy detail
stand out, surreal, 
against surrounding greens.

©Wendy Mulhern
March 10, 2013


Portal Vision

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I went through the portal
And now everything is different
Or maybe nothing has changed at all.

*
I see the vision
in the corner of my mind
And I can only approach it
if I treat it like a wild deer —
Don’t look straight at it,
Don’t move too fast,
Pretend to browse for food,
Go forward slowly, sideways,
Not with my attacking feet or teeth
but leading with my vulnerable side. 

It isn’t a wild deer —
It won’t bolt.
But there’s something about the focus
That won’t hold if I look straight at it.
It wants to come around me softly
And warm me from behind like sunshine —
Strong heat on the back of my ear, my shoulder
Melting my resistance.
It wants to glow behind me
And light up my path ahead,
Make a long shadow of me
to send before me like a scout.
It wants me to have this light
But always know
It doesn’t come from me.

©Wendy Mulhern
February 28, 2013


Because you can

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If you could,
Wouldn’t you use
all the tools you have
to feel love, to feel alive?

Wouldn’t you use music
and dance
and fantasy
and observation, jolted with
surprise,
and wonder,
and the tingling sensation
of remembered touch?

Wouldn’t you let
the padded feet of your affection
lead you down paths
of new connection?
— Hands reaching eager
even if you can’t see?

And if it doesn’t map
on what you’ve called your life,
Won’t you allow
your sights to be lifted?
— Step into the fullness
of everything 
this life, this love, imparts!

©Wendy Mulhern
January 28, 2013


Wonder Vision

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I put on the eyes that see colors
that see the depth and hue of shifting sky
That see the glow of things reflected off each other
Enchanting golds and oranges
softly warming planes and curves
Satisfying turn of shade
gracefully adorning trunks of trees

The colors stay with me when I close my eyes
Now free to recombine
like wind-tossed clouds
or frothing ocean foam
swirling and shifting
Now serving to refine
my understanding
of how the universe
breathing and lifting
gives  wonder to the vision of my days.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 6, 2012