Category: Community

Jul 13 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

Prayer without tears is like a well without water.

–Bhagavad Gita

Phenomena XIV: crying

Tears

Toxic Raindrops

Spitter, spatter – dribble, drip

eroding the soul

The sizzle of acidic water

dissolving resolution

Hard hail pellets

hammering the identity

Cold shards of sleet

penetrating the heart

Invisible tears

damaging the interior

where the scars

are mostly not visible

except in the

resulting behavior

which can be

so terribly bizarre

Confidence

roughly scoured

forcibly removed

from internal corridors

while outside

there was a smile

and a helping hand

for those less fortunate

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 21, 2008

Jul 12 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

Victory breeds hatred.

The defeated live in pain.

Happily the peaceful live,

giving up victory and defeat.

–The Dhammapada, 201

Phenomena XIII: hurting

Ice

Frozen

Cold raindrops fall

snow clots

into flakes

clumps

into ice

hard as rock

and so cold

Sharp water

cuts at my skin

Does your heart bleed

when the cold

drips from its hardness

as it condenses,

becoming not large enough

to contain any love

for people

different from you?

Ice pellets

from so many eyes

and thoughts

crystalize

into hatred

Are they even

aware of it?

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 12, 2008

Muse in the Morning

Jul 09 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

One should not strike a brahmin,

nor should the brahmin

let loose with his anger.

Shame on the brahmin’s killer.

More shame on the brahmin

whose anger is let loose.

–The Dhammapada, 389

Phenomena XII: interacting

True Colors?

Reality Bumping

Unlike glass baubles

the edges

of our worlds

co-mingle

For a brief moment

we share

realities blending

intertwining

exchanging electrons

of information

changing each of us

Then we pass

our realities untangle

but we each

carry onward

a piece of the other

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–May 2, 2008

Jul 08 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

He who experiences the unity of life

sees his own Self in all beings

and all beings in his own Self

and looks on everything with an impartial eye.

–Bhagavad Gita

Phenomena XI: uniting

Flow Lines

Primary Element

What could

even should

have been a time

to listen to one another

became instead a time

of antipathy

a time of distrust

of attack

of justification

of baser instincts

of pushing apart

rather than

pulling together

The strength of water

lies in it’s unity.

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 8. 2008

Muse in the Morning

Jul 07 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

What I know,” the Buddha said,

“is like the leaves on that tree;

what I teach is only a small part.

But I offer it to all with an open hand.

What do I not teach?

Whatever is fascinating to discuss,

divides people against each other,

but has no bearing on putting an end to sorrow.

What do I teach?

Only what is necessary to take you to the other shore.

–Siddhārtha Gautama, The Dhammapada

Phenomena X: Separation

Campfire

The Only Thing

Sitting around a campfire

we could select a problem

and jointly figure out

how to solve it

if we wanted to

But we are too many

for such a gathering

and to form

such an intention

and we have changed

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 21, 2008

Muse in the Morning

Jul 06 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

Not by refraining from action does one attain freedom from action.

Not by mere renunciation does one attain supreme perfection.

—Bhagavad Gita

Phenomena IX: choosing

Surfaces

Assume Control

Make a choice

of a future

of a pattern

of spacetime

to imagine

Make choices

in the present

to cause

that future

to happen

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–June 3, 2008

Jul 05 2010

What’s Your Favourite …?

By RiaD in Community

Jul 05 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

They are easy to do,

things of no good

and of no use to yourself.

What is truly useful and good

is truly harder than hard to do.

—The Dhammapada, 163

Phenomena VIII: accepting

Becalmed

Breathing

A few people

standing on the deck

of this boat

blowing at the sail

will not move it

Newton ensured that

We’ll always have

that equal

and opposite

reaction

Moving this boat

will require

the collective breath

of millions

who are not on it

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–April 4, 2008

Jul 02 2010

We Energized Each Other: Finding Engaged Allies Where We Work

By PaulLoeb in Action, Community

Whatever our situation, we need allies to work successfully for change. We need people to talk with, brainstorm ideas, lift us up when we’re down, and build power by acting together. Many of us involve ourselves in local and national political issues, but what about our workplaces? How do we shift these contexts to help create a more just and sustainable world? Unionization is one key approach. Had the Deepwater Horizon workers been unionized, they could have challenged the dangerous shortcuts that BP was taking without fear of being capriciously fired. Instead, many may well have held back from expressing their concerns for fear of losing their jobs. But whether or not our workplaces are unionized, we need to find engaged allies if we want to make a difference.

Jul 02 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

The cosmos is beginningless,

and in its movement from phase to phase

it is governed only by the impersonal, implacable law

of arising, change, and passing away.

–Bhikkhu Bodhi, Introduction to The Dhammapada

Phenomena VII: changing

Seeking to Connect

Be the Change

If we strive to live

as if the world

was as we wish it

to be

perhaps it will become

like that

“But that’s the way things are,”

says the crowd

That thinking is

what keeps our lives

this world

our relationship to this world

rigidly unchanging

So we resist…

try to eradicate

that mode of thought

try to keep flicking

some switches

hoping that more

lights will illuminate

searching for a trigger

to ignite

the cascade effect

that will bring

the change we desire

It starts inside

each of us

with those things

we can really control

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 26, 2008

Jul 01 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

May the evil man become good

and may the good man find peace.

May he who has peace become free

and may he who is free make others free.

–ancient, traditional prayer of India

Phenomena VI: praying

Sun

Reflections

New dawns

have come and gone

The years assembled

Decades folded

upon themselves

Time dwindles

Could once

just once

before I…

just once

while I…

one precious time

could such a dawn

bring forth

a better day,

one not ending

in horror

Could there be

some glorious light

before darkness

falls again

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–February 5, 2008

Jun 30 2010

Muse in the Morning

By Robyn in Art, Community, Poetry

Muse in the Morning

Dharma is the support of the earth.

Born of compassion and kindness.

It patiently holds the thread

Of creation together.

Understand this and become a person of Truth.

–Sri Guru Nanak Dev, Hymn 16, Japji Sahib

Phenomena V: Truth

At the Nub

Truth

Stripped

of pretense

scraped down

to the nub

bathed in

the acid

of reality

Truth

is coated by

no varnish

No twisting

spinning

bending

stretching

can alter it

Truth is inviolate

but there are many

pretenders

–Robyn Elaine Serven

–March 12, 2008