Writing With Quiet Hands

octleaves173

 

daisybuds

 

I want to make poems that say right out, plainly,
what I mean, that don’t go looking for the
laces of elaboration, puffed sleeves. I want to
keep close and use often words like
heavy, heart, joy, soon, and to cherish
the question mark and her bold sister

the dash. I want to write with quiet hands. I
want to write while crossing the fields that are
fresh with daisies and everlasting and the
ordinary grass. I want to make poems while thinking of
the bread of heaven and the
cup of astonishment; let them be

songs in which nothing is neglected,
not a hope, not a promise. I want to make poems
that look into the earth and the heavens
and see the unseeable. I want them to honor
both the heart of faith, and the light of the world;
the gladness that says, without any words, everything.
~Mary Oliver “Everything”

 

octoberfields17

 

Writing and riding with quiet hands –
a wonderful metaphor for moving forward
in gladness and astonishment
without trying to steer unnecessarily.
To feel connected without controlling,
to have faith in the unknowable
yet understand without a doubt, that it is good.

 

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photo by Joel DeWaard

 

quiethands3
photo by Brandon Dieleman

 

leamarlee20132
photo by Emily Dieleman

 

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2 thoughts on “Writing With Quiet Hands

  1. Lovely observation from a talented poet herself!

    DeWaard’s pic of the slightly bending tree appears almost to be in motion. Lovely. What a poet or a mystic could do with that imaginative opportunity. I am not a poet, but I can almost visualize the strength of the Holy Spirit there.

    Is that your Lea riding one of your Haflinger ‘children’? They are such beautiful animals. I would love to
    hug and nuzzle one (once we made a formal, friendly acquaintance of course). Lea looks so content.
    It is obvious that she loves what she is doing.

    Like

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