The Poet in You, Yes YOU!

Yesterday, I shared some spontaneous, albeit not my best poetry, and was starting to analyze and/or define it. I thought that I would save for this blog as there are variations of poems as there are poets.

Here are some I am familiar with: 'mystic poetry' (not sure the exact name though I assume this is the closest to describing poetry) from the likes of Rumi and Hafiz, former 'Middle Eastern' poets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East):

A poet is someone
Who can pour Light into a cup
and raise it to nourish your
beautiful parched holy mouth
- Hafiz

Tender words we spoke
to one another
are sealed
in the secret vaults of heaven.
One day like rain,
they will fall to earth
and grow green
all over the world
- Rumi

Haiku, a short and unique style of poetry that changed over time was born in Japan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku_in_English). I prefer this simpler interpretation better (http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Haiku-Poem). It features three lines, the first with five syllables, the second with seven, and the third with five. It is often on the theme of nature.

I have attempted haiku though it is a challenge for me. Here is one I just wrote:

First cherry blossoms
Delights both my nose and eyes
No going back now

Or how about this one I also wrote as part of this posting:

a feast for my eyes
pink petals dropping like rain
- ballerina show

There's that word "delights" again! Must like it as I also used it in yesterday's spontaneous poem.

Limericks originated in England - I thought Ireland! - with five lines: Lines 1, 2, and 5 have eight syllables and rhyme, and Lines 3 and 4 have five syllables rhyme (as in A, A, B, B, A). They are usually nonsensical and silly. The following limerick, a great example of its structure, won an Irish 'Listowel Writers Week' prize in 1998 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limerick_%28poetry%29):

Writing a Limerick's absurd,
Line one and line five rhyme in word,
And just as you've reckoned
They rhyme with the second;
The fourth line must rhyme with the third.

And then the prose poem was birthed in 19th century France and Germany; a combination of both prose and poem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poem.) Rainer Maria Rilke is a prose writer as well as Hans Christian Andersen, even Edgar Allan Poe!

My favourite prose poem or one of them is The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. I am only listing the link http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/ for brevity's sake: see left-hand side of her website. (You may need to use control plus the button on your mouse pad to enlarge it!)

Here is my take on prose poetry, an excerpt of one I wrote in Grade 9. Yep, I'm proud of that piece of writing as I received an A+ on it!

"...The leaves murmur among themselves, bravely preparing for the coming of winter..." And a little further on I continue, "The melancholy trees moan and mourn for the loss of their leaves ... The trees shiver from the cold as they are unprotected ..."

But what is the definition of a "poem" in the first place. According to google - where else would you suggest I go? Please tell me and I'm serious about that - this is their definition: "a piece of writing that partakes of the nature of both speech and song that is nearly always rhythmical, usually metaphorical, and often exhibits such formal elements as meter, rhyme, and stanzaic structure. Synonyms: verse, rhyme, piece of poetry, song ... something that arouses strong emotions because of its beauty."

I wonder about that I have come across some - hopefully not mine - that do not necessarily evoke strong emotions or rhymes or is rhythmic for that matter.

According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry), "Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language - such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre - to evoke meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning." Well, that's a poetic mouthful. I'll let you figure out that in plain English! ;)

To be continued, with some unusual videos. ;)

What is your take on poetry? If you were a poet, would you wear any of the above-mentioned styles on your sleeve or heartstrings? If not, what is your style?

Lunar Effects

Photo courtesy of Roberto Kaplan Designs

Yesterday, I said that the moon affects our emotions. The Spiritual Research Foundation has a lot to say about this:

One of the various points they mention on the affect of the moon on humans: "The frequencies emanating from the Moon affect the frequencies of the mental body, i.e. mind of human beings. By ‘mind’ we mean our feelings, emotions and desires. The mind consists of the conscious mind and the sub-conscious mind. Within the sub-conscious mind we have a number of impressions that are embedded that decide our basic nature and personality. We are however not aware of the thoughts or impressions in our sub-conscious mind. These impressions get collected over a number of lifetimes." (I pause here as you may not believe in past lives. If that's the case, ask yourself how the above can relate to you in this lifetime.)

They go on to say: "These impressions in our mind are the catalysts for all our thoughts and subsequent actions. Both the impressions and our thoughts have their own subtle-frequencies.’." (http://www.spiritualresearchfoundation.org/spiritualresearch/spiritualscience/spiritualeffectofmoon_on_man)

Both Rumi and Michael Jackson - I compared them in a few recent posts - were lovers of the moon, both waxing poetically about it One rendition of Rumi's:

At night, I open the window
and ask the moon to come
and press its face against mine.
Breathe into me.
Close the language-door
and open the love-window.
The moon won't use the door,
only the window.

Michael Jackson wrote "Dance of Life," a poem that describes how the moon affects him: "I cannot escape the moon. Its soft beams push aside the curtains at night. I don't even have to see it — a cool blue energy falls across my bed and I am up. I race down the dark hall and swing open the door, not to leave home but to go back into it. "Moon, I'm here!" I shout..." Check out the rest of his prose poem below this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=L95EkNS4TBk

To be continued...

Supermoon!

"Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon; How much it can fill your room depends on its windows.” (The Essential Rumi)

The picture above - whose image is from an artist whose name I cannot find (though the name begins with an "O") - is one I received a few years ago. The original is more vivid, primarily deep orange and yellow in colour that I found so captures the beauty of a full moon. (Unfortunately, I seemed to have lost my photos of real ones.)

Did you witness that big, round, beautiful moon the other night, Saturday July 12th, at least in this part of the world?

The Supermoon can be nicknamed a "supersized moon" as it looks much larger than its usual size, and it is also much brighter in appearance as well lighting up the night sky. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermoon) states that "A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth. The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system.."

Perigee for short varies as the moon can be sometimes a little closer and sometimes a little farther away. A supermoon can appear even closer during the winter when the earth is closest to the sun.

(For details of this photo, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsis.)

Supermoons usually appear once annually, though last year had three such occurrences and this year will feature five in total! So, stay tuned to the night sky where two others will appear: August 10th and September 9th.

How do you feel when you see a supermoon in the night sky? According to one seemingly reliable source whose article has been removed for some reason, supermoons magnify and intensify energies...but then you knew that already, right? ;)

Whirling like a Dervish? (like Michael Jackson?!)

Photo of MJ by Zoran Veselinovic



The above video highlights some of the "King of Pop", Michael Jackson's spins over the years. And following below is an enlightening poem, dancing the dream written by Michael Jackson - yes, he wrote poetry - about his dancing.

http://bluemoon.fem.jp/dancing/main_e/dancing_1e.html

Do you notice how this poem seems to describe Sufi dancing (if you are a bit familiar with the depth of it), not to mention that his style of poetry is very much like that of Rumi? It is perhaps no wonder then that Michael used to read Sufi poetry and performed his own version of twirls and whirls, though he had his own style, his own spin on it! ;) Couldn't resist that pun! (Info from Michael Jackson: Man Behind the Mirror written by Raamayan Ananda, a man I know from Vancouver, British Columbia. Check out his book at (http://manbehindthemirror.com/).

Next we will look at another interesting aspect...to be continued, tomorrow?

What kind of things do you notice in our world that whirl? What does the spinning symbolically represent to you?

Whirling Dervishes (like Rumi)

"Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love."(Rumi)

According to my book, Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and the West by Daniel Ladinsky, "Love is the essence of Rumi, love became his very being, love is the impetus of all his poetry.".

According to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi, "Rumi believed passionately in the use of music, poetry and dance as a path for reaching God. For Rumi, music helped devotees to focus their whole being on the divine and to do this so intensely that the soul was both destroyed and resurrected. It was from these ideas that the practice of whirling Dervishes developed into a ritual form."

The spinning or whirling of dervishes are symbolic of their values of love and service, and was in fact an active meditation, a devotional act, often accompanied by singers and reciters of poetry and prayers.



Their dance was symbolic of abandoning their egos or personal desires and focusing instead on God, turning clockwise around the heart, spinning repeatedly in circles like planets, with right arm and hand extended facing up towards the sky, the left downwards towards the earth.

The clothing of the whirling dervish is symbolic: the hat represents the tombstone (or death) of the ego, the skirt (wide and white) to conceal the ego. Disrobing of the black cloak symbolizes being spiritually reborn to the truth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufi_whirling)

Do you love to spin and twirl as you dance? Or did you as a child (as children naturally tend to do)? How does it or did it make you feel?

Due to computer issues, I have to cut this blog short…so will continue with a twist…pardon the pun! ;)

Hafiz, another Beloved Poet (Like Rumi)

I'm going to give myself a little break from writing about Rumi in relation to a world-renowned pop star! Yes, you did read that right! ;) Due to the time pressure of a daily blog post this month - I need some time to read and research - I will introduce you (if you aren't familiar yet) with another wonderful Middle Eastern poet in the meantime.

Have any of you heard of Hafiz (born as Shams-ud-din Muhammad Hafiz)? He was the most beloved poet of Persia, and he has impacted the lives of some pretty influential people since then: Ralph Waldo Emerson primarily known as a poet; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a writer and poet; Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, a philospher, poet, and composer amongst other things; and the composer and pianist Johannes Brahms. (You can read more about Hafiz and Rumi in, Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West by Daniel Ladinsky.)

Hafiz penned about 5,000 poems in his lifetime of 66 years of age. Here are some short samples with some Iranian music:



This is one of my favourite poems of his: How did the rose ever open its heart and give to this world all of its beauty? It felt the encouragement of light against its being, otherwise we all remain too frightened. (I love how the poems in this book are all centred on the page, albeit I wish I knew how to do it here!)

Or how about this one which I adore just as much, Know the true nature of your Beloved. In His loving eyes, your every thought, word, and movement is always, always, beautiful. (Isn't his poetry just exquisite? I swear Hafiz could be Rumi reincarnated! Like Rumi, Hafiz was a Sufi mystic and his poems shared a similar quality in writing: eloquent and sensual, speaking of love and devotion, others of humour and wit.

And the video below is a twist on Hafiz' poetry with some modern words, music, and images: I love them all!



FYI (for your information), I just realized that I have been drinking organic "sweet rose" tea today and the past two postings. No wonder perhaps why I am drawn to write about "love" poetry! ;)

Part 2: 100 Ways to Kneel & Kiss the Ground

You may wonder, how did I, a North American gal get into Rumi? How did I hear about him?

Years ago, I met a former refugee who was a survivor of torture from the middle East. He was a lover of Rumi's poetry. It was he who organized "Rumi Night" on several occasions. It was always an evening event with recitation/reading of Rumi poetry with background music, sometimes with whirling dervishes dancing their divine dances of love and devotion.

I came to really enjoy and appreciate Rumi's poetry, not because I used to write inspired poetry (though haven't much lately), but I find his poetry so sensual. It is a feast to my ears, my heart, my soul. It pierces through unwanted emotions transforming and transmuting them into peace and love, similar to what I feel when I chant in Sanskrit.

In fact, at a community dance once, I felt strongly compelled to ask an acquaintance if I could recite/read some Rumi poetry at an upcoming evening. I was delighted when he replied that he would see what he could do, or did he say 'Yes!'?

Regardless, I was ecstatic yet humbled to be considered to take on such an honourable role. I took it quite seriously as I mentored with an older woman, Ruth Raziel, well known in the community for her readings of Rumi poetry.

My initial impulse was to read them passionately as I felt they "should be" expressed; however, it was suggested that I read them as if I was savouring the words like food on my tongue. (I don't know if she actually said that, but something along that line.)

This inspired me to write my interpretation of Rumi’s poetry:

close your eyes
listen
with ears wide
heart open
ready to burst
in flame
to the sounds of love –
fluid words
like soft feathers
or luscious chocolate
melting slowly in your mouth
such exquisite sweetness
and delight!

I love that poem, my poem, my inspired poem that tickled me pink. Do you think the poem describes an experience of Rumi poetry? (Not that your opinion matters though. I'm just curious!)

I still have the post-it notes marking some of my favourite poems and passages of The Essential Rumi (with a very similar cover featured yesterday on my blog post), such as:

Birdsong brings relief
to my longing.
I am just as ecstatic as they are,
but with nothing to say!
Please, universal soul, practice
some song, or something, through me!

I actually cried when I opened reciting my favourite Rumi poem, "I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think” The words moved me deeply, touching me sincerely because of my heart's longing to sing freely, with wild abandon, and most of all, to start my inspired alternative youth choir.

If you wish to hear an inspirational and beautiful CD, check out a gift of love cd (pictured above). As you can see from the cover, it features a lot of actors.

Jared Harris, an English actor is one featured on the cd. Here is a short video clip with his voice and scenes from the film, Koyaanisqatsi; check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyaanisqatsi for details if you are interested.


Does poetry move you? Would you be willing to allow it, listening to it with an open heart? And what happens if and when you do? You might just enjoy the experience. ;)

100 Ways to Kneel & Kiss the Ground

Coleman Barks http://www.colemanbarks.com/, an eminent scholar of Rumi's poetry is well-renowned for his translations and interpretations of Rumi's poems. One major book title is The Essential Rumi, with two book cover versions shown.

As part of the Indian Summer Festival in Vancouver, BC, on Saturday night, I attended "100 Ways to Kneel and Kiss the Ground" named after one of Rumi's poems.

Rumi (short in America for Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi or Jalaluddin Rumi) was amongst other things, a 13th-century Persian poet. He has actually been described as the "most popular poet in America" and the "best selling poet in the US" according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumi.

Here is a snippet of one of his poems as recited by Coleman Barks: .

Do you love poetry and if so, what kind? Are you familiar with or interested in Rumi's poetry?