December

Last Day of 2022: Making Peace with our Earth

colleen General, Poetry , , , , ,

Saturday 31st December 2022 into 2023

 

With the now departing year
May your cares &sorrows ease
May the new year drawing near
Bring you happiness and peace.  SC. Foster

 

 

IT IS TIME TO STOP DEFINING PEACE

AS THE ABSENCE OF WAR

AND START DEFINING IT

AS THE PRESENCE OF LOVE

 

 Making Peace

by Denise Levertov

A voice from the dark called out,
             ‘The poets must give us
imagination of peace, to oust the intense, familiar
imagination of disaster. Peace, not only
the absence of war.’
                                   But peace, like a poem,
is not there ahead of itself,
can’t be imagined before it is made,
can’t be known except
in the words of its making,
grammar of justice,
syntax of mutual aid.
                                       A feeling towards it,
dimly sensing a rhythm, is all we have
until we begin to utter its metaphors,
learning them as we speak.
                                              A line of peace might appear
if we restructured the sentence our lives are making,
revoked its reaffirmation of profit and power,
questioned our needs, allowed
long pauses . . .
                        A cadence of peace might balance its weight
on that different fulcrum; peace, a presence,
an energy field more intense than war,
might pulse then,
stanza by stanza into the world,
each act of living
one of its words, each word
a vibration of light—facets
of the forming crystal.
PhotoS taken 29 th December 2022..
Thomas and Eleanor walking the cobbled lanes of St Ives, Cornwell.UK

December 26: Our month to be at peace with the world by Colleen Keating

colleen General , , ,

Wage Peace

If you want to see change in the world you have to be that change..

With this year coming to an end we look forward to another chance,
What can i do to be that change?
How can any of us BE that change?

A poem by Judyth Hill  speaks for today

Wage Peace

By Judyth Hill

Wage peace with your breath.

Breathe in firemen and rubble,

breathe out whole buildings

and flocks of redwing blackbirds.

Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children

and freshly mown fields.

Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.

Breathe in the fallen

and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.

Wage peace with your listening:

hearing sirens, pray loud.

Remember your tools:

flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.

Make soup.

Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.

Learn to knit, and make a hat.

Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,

imagine grief as the outbreath of beauty

or the gesture of fish.

Swim for the other side.

Wage peace.

Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.

have a cup of tea and rejoice.

Act as if armistice has already arrived.

Celebrate today.

Our month of December has come to its peak which for many is Christmas day, a festive holiday,  a coming together of family and friends,  a celebration of the Summer Solstice  with the balmy longest day of the year, or for some  asad lonely day or just another day with lots of hype and traffic and food .

After a  year  afflicted by terrorism and war we need a critical mass of ‘yes’  for a new year bringing in peace.  Let peace be the way of our world.

December Days summer gardens, friends, parties, art galleries by Colleen Keating

colleen General , ,

Decembers Days

 Making peace with our earth, our world of humanity and ourselves

A friend who is in Assisi for Christmas sent this photo. A reconstruction of the simple story of The Nativity. In the darkness of the shortest day of the year when we wait . . . .in  the dark . . .   the new light
 rises and begins its return. ‘And the Light shall overcome. That is our Hope that the Light shall overcome.  Nature shows us over and over that life conquers death . And so we believe.  On the shortest day and the longest night may this blessing make its way into our hearts. However that being said we are here in Australia so we have to turn it all around and find another story  of symbolism.

OUR SUMMER SOLSTICE

We have always had to imagine the deep dark cold of Christmas night here in the Southern Hemisphere.

Our Kind of Peace

One kind of peace is a state of life that is free from chaos and turbu- lence, from violence and institutionally le- gitimated death. That kind of peace happens often enough in histo- ry to show us that such a thing is possi- ble. But don’t be fooled: that kind of peace can be achieved as easily through force as well as through jus- tice. In that case, little is gained by it.

But there is another kind of peace. This kind of peace does not come either from the denial of evil or the ac- ceptance of oppression. This kind comes from the cen- ter of us and flows through us like a conduit to the world around us.

One kind of peace is a state of life that is free from chaos and turbu- lence, from violence and institutionally le- gitimated death. That kind of peace happens often enough in histo- ry to show us that such a thing is possi- ble. But don’t be fooled: that kind of peace can be achieved as easily through force as well as through jus- tice. In that case, little is gained by it.

But there is another kind of peace. This kind of peace does not come either from the denial of evil or the ac- ceptance of oppression. This kind comes from the cen- ter of us and flows through us like a conduit to the world around us.

Summer Days

Friends

Parties

Art Gallery: New Modern extension

Inspirng Art for Michaels  A story that he is fond of  still chokes up tlking of it.

F

Family

 

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DECEMBER 17: DECEMBER DAYS BY COLLEEN KEATING

colleen General , , ,

 

SATURDAY 17TH DECEMBER

DAY 17

I found the following quote for peace on google while wanting  to read some of the lyrics of Bob Dylan
on my December theme  Peace.  IT WAS A DOONA DAY FOR ME.


Jimi Hendrix famously said,

“when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”
That was over fifty years ago, and the world hasn’t moved on much since then.
A glance at the news and you’ll see there’s still far too much suffering in the world.

We still have poverty, wars, famine, corruption, etc., despite massive advancements in technology.
We still have to fight for peace, though.
We can’t give up. “

My 11 year old Grandson who lives in England and who has just completed year 7  has read a Michael Murpugo book  called Private Peaceful ,which involved him in the life of Tommo who confrounts the execution of his brother for being a coward  and refusing to go over the hill into the fire. 

Thomas has written and reads here a poem in response to his English set text.

https://www.facebook.com/messenger_media?attachment_id=997986667785134&message_id=mid.$cAAAAAHOxGauLNrxY82FBXKKKnqXq&thread_id=583285485

https://www.facebook.com/messenger_media?attachment_id=997986667785134&message_id=mid.$cAAAAAHOxGauLNrxY82FBXKKKnqXq&thread_id=583285485

 

 

 

DECEMBER 11: OUR MONTH TO BE AT PEACE WITH THE WORLD by Colleen Keating

colleen General , , , , ,

 

Sunday 11th DECEMBER

Day 11

And the miraculous comes so close   (Written in Russia in 1921)

“Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold, 
Death’s great black wing scrapes the air, 
Misery gnaws to the bone. 
Why then do we not despair? 
By day, from surrounding woods, 
Cherries blow summer into town;

At night the deep transparent skies
Glitter with new galaxies. 
And the miraculous comes so close 
To the ruined, dirty houses—
Something not known to anyone at all,
But wild in our breast for centuries.” 

-Anna Akhmatova (1921)
A young Russian poet writing this in 1921 in a country at war with itself. And yet she could write this hope . . . 

When we use violence as an answer to violence, all we manage to do in the end is to become what we hate. “Actions initiated in anger,” Sylvia Boorstein wrote, “perpetuate suffering.”

I remember my beautiful Aunty Tess who would be 90 today. Since I was young we have shared our birthdays. And I miss her friendship and her wisdom very much. 

 

And Master D arrived with his Dad to stay for a few days with us. His Dad has a funeral on Monday so we are having him. So far great fun looking for our frog, feeding Mr Kooky, counting the cockatoos

 

DECEMBER 7: OUR MONTH TO BE THE PEACE WE WISH FOR by Colleen Keating

colleen General , , , ,

 Wednesday 7th DECEMBER

Day 7

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing 

and rightdoing there is a field.

I’ll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass

the world is too full to talk about.

― Rumi

Early this morning I refound a poem titled Loud by poet laureate  (2009-2019) Carol Ann Duffy. It begins with a quote from the news,  violent enough that today they would add the disclaimer if this has disturbed viewers they can ring Lifeline.  

A woman screams so loud her voice  rips out of throat like a firework. It responds to global conflict and suffering, shouts in its effort to get control,  in the spit on the tip of her tongue . . . it roars,

bawls, howls, shieks  and those in the news cowered in the noise.

I reflect on how daily news drums into our lounge rooms, fills our personal space with impending doom, darkens our minds, bombards our hearts and it is easy to get caught in the hype that peace is impossible .

This can be depressing, deflating and our memory can be smothered. It is easy to forget 

 to look for the light

 be in the light  

be the light 

knowing the darker the world 

the brighter will  be our light

as we move beyond the wrongdoing  and rightdoing

into the field

 where WE ARE PEACE.

DECEMBER 5: OUR MONTH TO BE THE PEACE WE WISH FOR by Colleen Keating  

colleen General, Poetry , , , , ,

MONDAY 5TH DECEMBER

Day 5

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

― Rainer Maria Rilke

Finding paradox while watering the garden

under the lower shady leaves
it hides
wanting only time
cycle time
clues left in the nibbled holes
on my green osmocoted leaves
on my  salmon rose that makes me sing
Mary Olivers words –
Sunshine and showers . . .
its morning and again
I am that lucky person who is in it .

i spent yesterday mesmerised
by white butterflies
somersaulting around the garden
in intoxicated revelry
and they too made me sing –
Mary Olivers words
its morning and again
I am that lucky person who is in it .

today  I find my rose
caught in time cycles
cocoons  pouches of eggs
i say   not on my rose
and it reveals itself
humbly like a koen
in my searching hands
still making me sing
Mary Oliver words –
I am that lucky person who is in it

Also a  family birthday for our 11 year old grandson with family, food and fun. Lovely to watch the grandchildren growing up so beautifully under the guidance of our children.

 

DECEMBER 4: OUR MONTH TO BE THE PEACE WE WISH FOR by Colleen Keating  

colleen General, Poetry , , ,

SUNDAY 4TH  DECEMBER

It was fun having two of our grandchildren, 10 year old cousins, one from Coffs Harbour and one from Sydney with us. Our lego table is always popular for play and  catching up with each other what ever age.

Day 4:  It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it.

And it isn’t enough to believe in it.

One must work at it. 

Eleanor Roosevelt from 1951 Voice of America  broadcast

Working at peace is an every day work. . . believing in it when the day seems dim and allowing each new day to be a magpie dawn,  feel its joy and begin again.

Peace is not something we achieve , somethong we win, it is something that is always ‘a becoming ‘  something we need to believe in  and work at.  In a family peace is rewarding because it means you are more relaxed and more joyful .

Peace in a family is something to sing  for and about with gratitude  each new day.

Children sit and play lego, and chat together but they are listening to the adult talk the whole time. That is how they learn to become adults.

 

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DECEMBER 3: OUR MONTH TO BE THE PEACE WE WISH FOR by Colleen Keating  

colleen General, Poetry , , , ,

FRIDAY 3rd DECEMBER

Watching the lilies open slowly  for the next few December mornings  reminds me peace is always becoming

Day 3  Peace is a day-to-day problem, the product of a multitude of events and judgement.

Peace is not an ‘is’ it is a ‘becoming’

Hale Selassie

while doing a grocery shop  

you suggested buying flowers

i chose the day lilies 

long slender stems tightly budded

their colour yet to be revealed

a navy blue vase

the last gift from my mother  

i arranged them  

to await the first peep of colour

they would open as they chose

we patiently watered  waited

worked and dined 

at the table with them

the buds stirred  

blossomed   each a surprise

some yellow  some white

lightly speckled petals

every time i noticed them 

they made me smile

you suggested buying flowers –

that has doubled the pleasure

Colleen Keating  from my upcoming book ‘The Light Gets In‘ to be published early 2024

Photos  taken in the last lockdown as I followed each bud open and found gratitude singing in me.

DECEMBER 2: OUR MONTH TO BE THE PEACE WE WISH FOR by Colleen Keating  

colleen Poetry , ,

FRIDAY 2nd DECEMBER

Lovely drive out to Swains Garden Centre to buy a few plants including a new Peace Lily.  Returned home to do some gardening. Photo is one of some of our plantings today. Lettuce, Endives, hopefully ready in Christmas week.   

Day 2   To be at peace with the world, we must come to see the world differently.

Working in the garden, being in nature, is one way to see the world differently.  The white butterflies and bees flirting around the Petunias, the tiny buds on the Kangaroo Paws, the curly greens of the parsley and the wonderful aroma of the lemon balm, the simplicity of each bud on the Peace Lily brings us to that inner place of centring   . . . of being from where peace comes  . . .