Category: paradox

cool and gray

On By Amrita Skye BlaineIn Awakening, awe, Daily reminders, death, grief, Musings, Non-duality, nonduality, notes from self, paradox, Poetry, sufferingLeave a comment

cool and gray

sky the shade
of splintered concrete
half a world away
in the dark, families
fight for freedom
their homes shattered
a similar gray—
where I live,
there’s war too
a quieter kind
—for now

overlaying that
an atypical spring
gray and cool
occasional mist
drapes the trees
now late spring,
jasmine kisses my nose
hummers sip aloe
their iridescent green
against deep orange
lavender swells
so does my unease

I can’t turn away
befriend it instead
this curious bouquet
of fair and fear

2023 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I’m writing a poem a day. These are drafts—not final versions.

the key

On By Amrita Skye BlaineIn Awakening, awe, chilla/test, consciousness, Daily reminders, gratitude, Musings, Non-duality, nonduality, notes from self, paradox, pathless path, Poetry, spirituality, TruthLeave a comment

the key

slow to learn
I searched in things
and those I knew
for this crux, this clue
until one day
I turned around
and found
the code inside
the key matched
a slot in my heart,
and when I slipped it in
like an arrow nocked
to its bow, it fit—
my task remained
allow trust
the turn
to open me

2023 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I’m writing a poem a day. These are drafts—not final versions.

stubborn praise

On By Amrita Skye BlaineIn Awakening, awe, Breath, Daily reminders, Love, Musings, Non-duality, nonduality, notes from self, paradox, Poetry, simple pleasures, spirituality, treasure, Truth1 Comment

stubborn praise

it’s a wreck, this world
mishandled, misused—
human’s ugly touch
everywhere
plastic clogging the seas
trash pitched on roads,
minds that are broken
and vicious
and yet…
when sun dusts the trees
light plays the leaves
and breeze butterflies
my skin,
I breathe
grateful for dawn
grateful for love
grateful for you

2023 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I’m writing a poem a day. These are drafts—not final versions.

I am

On By Amrita Skye BlaineIn awe, Daily reminders, feelings, gratitude, Musings, Non-duality, nonduality, notes from self, paradox, Poetry, writing6 Comments

This was a fifteen-minute unedited write in a workshop
with Rosemary Wahtola Trommer

I am

I am brave
I am a cowardly mess

I love the truth
the truth terrifies me
yet I yearn to turn toward it

I am a poet
I have failed poetry
what is a poet, anyway?

I am multitudes
I am very small and alone

I am a student of life
I am a teacher of life
in every moment,
life teaches me

all of these avowals
are true

2023 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I’m writing a poem a day. These are drafts—not final versions.

uncertainty

On By Amrita Skye BlaineIn Awakening, awe, children, consciousness, Daily reminders, Musings, Non-duality, nonduality, notes from self, paradox, pathless path, Poetry, spirituality2 Comments

uncertainty

our days are filled
with uncertainty
that’s the edge
for all of us
we just don’t know

the sun seems
to rise every day
but, scientists say
one morning it won’t
big trouble

I doubt
we’ll be here by then
we’re successfully
killing ourselves off
but I don’t know

marvels happen
every day
the next baby born
might save our world
cool the fever

of rising degrees
but who will be left?
sun-loving creatures
the meerkats?
the hippos?

this is for sure
after we’re gone
knowing will shine
blazing awake
and aware

2023 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I’m writing a poem a day. These are drafts—not final versions.

from darkness

On By Amrita Skye BlaineIn awe, Breath, children, Daily reminders, light, loss, Musings, Non-duality, nonduality, notes from self, pain, paradox, parenting, PoetryLeave a comment

from darkness

as first light skims
the sky, I consider
how we birth
from dark

what a shock light
must be for the infant
as her mother finally
pushes her free

she is caught
by a stranger, then
cut from her source
with a snip of the cord

dark’s comfort vanished
warm sea washed away
where is her refuge now?
no wonder she cries

imagine bewilderment
as new systems begin
lungs fill and empty
for the very first time

she squints and blinks
in this startling world
filled with loud sounds
and smells and sights

as she lies skin to skin
stroked and soothed
by her mother’s first touch
a new passage

from darkness to light
and one into two

2023 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I’m writing a poem a day. These are drafts—not final versions.

the missionary and the dervish

On By Amrita Skye BlaineIn Awakening, awe, Daily reminders, gratitude, Love, memoir, Musings, Non-duality, nonduality, notes from self, paradox, Poetry, simple pleasures, spirituality2 Comments

the missionary and the dervish

she’s elderly
I’m only aged
seventeen years
between us
we knew upon
first meeting
we’d be fine friends
missionary emeritus,
retired dervish
antipodal beliefs?
not so—
on our separate paths,
broken, wounded
flayed open by our lives
both ran aground,
set up bivouac
and stayed—
love won

2023 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I’m writing a poem a day. These are drafts—not final versions.

without a name

On By Amrita Skye BlaineIn Awakening, awe, Daily reminders, gratitude, Musings, Non-duality, nonduality, notes from self, paradox, pathless path, Poetry4 Comments

without a name

I greet first light
without a name,
without naming
slip my arm
around your waist
hug you,
snug into warmth,
breath and balm—
one whole

a finger snap of time
distinguishing begins,
splits this from that
hawk from sky
deer from field
me from you,
grateful scent remains

This photo is from the Barnstorming Blog, which I’ve followed for fifteen years.
Thank you, Emily Gibson. https://barnstorming.blog/

2023 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I’m writing a poem a day. These are drafts—not final versions.

enter at your own risk

On By Amrita Skye BlaineIn Awakening, awe, consciousness, Daily reminders, loss, Musings, Non-duality, nonduality, notes from self, paradox, PoetryLeave a comment

enter at your own risk

did we agree
to slip into this world
wet with fluids of love?
it’s not safe, this plane—
all will be taken back
in time

in time, the one marvel
divided into many
that can sense
the interplay, though
the price we must pay
is our leaving

leaving what or where?
it’s all here—
the one become many
become one
the eternal parade
of change

change is the given
no point resisting
let’s rest in its river,
the pull of unknown,
give it up, let it go
float back home

2023 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I’m writing a poem a day. These are drafts—not final versions.

sponge hole heart sutra

On By Amrita Skye BlaineIn Awakening, awe, consciousness, Daily reminders, gratitude, heart, Musings, Non-duality, nonduality, notes from self, paradox, Poetry, spirituality2 Comments

sponge hole heart sutra

I wring soapy water
from the sponge
struck
by the marvel of holes

how sponge soaks
up nectar or goop or juice
and holds it in hollows
suspended

and worms bore tunnels
in loam so aliment and air
percolate—without openings
soil will die

hearts require hollows,
chambers like sponge
so they can fill
and squeeze and fill again

which carries me directly
to the shoreless shore
sponge—emptiness
sponge—form

2023 ©Amrita Skye Blaine
I’m writing a poem a day. These are drafts—not final versions.