Do You Want To Meet Who You Are?- #48*

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Nicky Mendenhall
  • November 30, 2012
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We’ve been exploring the mystery for nearly a year! Today we tackle the mystery of Who We Are.

Recently Ivan Granger published a poem by Dorothy Waters** on his fantastic website, Poetry Chaikhana.*** Reading his daily selections for the past three years has seduced me; there are now a few poems in my inchoate collection. The seduction occurred while reading Ivan’s sensitive and helpful commentaries after each selection. 

Exploring the citation provided for Dorothy’s work, I found a poem we will be exploring today. When the decision was made to share it with you,  I emailed Dorothy to request her permission. Within the hour she called me!

This was a glorious surprise. We chatted as if we were long time friends and in a sense, we were; there is a copiously underlined copy of her 2002 book, Unmasking the Rose, on my bookshelf. She generously said that from her vantage point of 84 years, my 67 was quite young. This forever endeared her to me.

I shared with her that poetry was a new interest of mine; that in the past, poems didn’t make sense to me. She said with a chuckle, “You weren’t reading the right poems!”

So I present her poem to you hoping that it is the right poem for you.  Force yourself to read each line. Watch for words you like and savor them. See if you can learn something about yourself from this wise woman’s words and let me know what you discover.

WHO YOU ARE
 
 
How the body is put together,
with its tender fastenings,
its mysterious openings,
its muscles working in
smooth coordination
to convey it
where it wishes to go,
how it changes
from year to year,
from day to day,
its cells working in a collusion
to carry it always
into a new configuration,
how the face communicates
its signals
 wherever it goes,
whether it is
happy or sad
or puzzled
or plotting,
how the inner and outer,
organs and coverings are part
of the same being,
the same oneness
that is bound together
to make the unique creation,
the one combination
that is you,
present here, now,
spirit’s abode,
soul’s habitation,
never to be encountered
again in time’s endless cycles.


What new configuration are you being led to? Do you honor your uniqueness?

Thanks for exploring the mystery – Nicky Mendenhall

*Please note there will be at least one new-to-me word in each post. See if you can guess which word it is. Also tell me if I have misused a word, tell me if you like or intensely dislike a word in the post, or suggest a word you think I need to know.

**Used with oral permission, Dorothy Walters, The Ley Lines of the Soul: Poems of Ecstasy and Ascension (2012)

***Ivan Granger, http://poetry-chaikhana.com

You can easily access the comments section by clicking on exploring the mystery typed below.

 

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3 comments

  1. Committing to slowing down and emptying my life of unnecessary drama around me is a deeply embedded affliction. The brief times of being with in my emptiness is anything but empty: I feel at home, I reflect on blessings & words of wisdom that I was not open to, the creative ideas I long for begin to flow & I am able to be more gentle & calm. Be Blessed! Margie

  2. Nicky-the writer Edward Abbey once said, We should be able to sit on a rock all day, do absolutely nothing and still feel good.

    I also feel we need to verbally discuss our frustrations so we can hear them. This seem to help get them out in the open. We need an open field where we can be by ourselves on a long walk without interference.

    Carl

  3. The new word is inchoate and I had to look it up for meaning and pronunciation. Good poem!

    Nina

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