“When you forgive, you are free to move on in life, to grow, to no longer be a victim. When you forgive, you slip the yoke, and your future is unshackled from your past.” —Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu, “The Book of Forgiving”

I talked with poet and writer Maggie Smith about finding possibility in between-states and the freedom of having your life implode. Illustration by Harriet Lee-Merrion. @maggiesmithpoet.bsky.social @tricyclemag.bsky.social tricycle.org/article/on-n... #creativelife #authorinterview

Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run it is easier. We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it is not as dreadful as it appeared, discovering we have the strength to stare it down. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt 🌺

“Curiosity is what separates the truly alive from those who are merely going through the motions.” —Tom Robbins

We all have to live with ourselves. . .eventually (if not immediately) that truth is meaningful.

“For one to be free there must be at least two.” ― Zygmunt Bauman #Photography Martin Parr

‘The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.’ ~ Carl G. Jung writingforwellbeing.co.uk

"We need beauty because it makes us ache to be worthy of it." - Mary Oliver Artist: Alberta Tiburzi

start small. let the driver merge, let the cashier breathe, let the stranger’s silence mean something other than indifference. #poetry #poem #art #digitalart #mentalhealth #compassion

Monday sights

“When we listen with our mind, we understand more of life. When we listen with our heart, we feel more of life. When we listen with our entire being and spirit, we are transformed and joined with life itself.” —Mark Nepo, “Seven Thousand Ways to Listen”

The poets and the storytellers, holding the powerful history of Juneteenth.

Today's the *official* pub day for Human/Animal: a bestiary in essays @wlupress.bsky.social I will lean into the joy—Celebrate with me! The brilliant @carolinehagood.bsky.social interviewed me: open.substack.com/pub/caroline... AND It was excerpted in @msmagazine.com! msmagazine.com/2025/04/21/w...

I love it when the evening light comes through the window with an intensity and a tone that says, “beauty emergency” (to borrow Maggie Smith’s phrase)—stop everything and go outside and stare at the sunset.

Mary Oliver with some wise words...

Several times a day, on a good day, I stop and get lost in light, color, sound, a bird, a breeze, a thought, a feeling. Rumi wrote: “Mystics are experts in laziness. They rely on it, / because they continuously see God working all around them.”

To love another is something like prayer and can't be planned; you just fall into its arms because your belief undoes your disbelief. ~ Anne Sexton

Two weeks to thrillerfest!

Beautiful book, incredible piece here, so worth a read and a listen

Saturday morning breeze and sunshine. Spurred on this week by a verse from Rumi: “But don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth, without complicated explanation, so everyone will understand the passage, ‘We have opened you.’”

Good night, friends. ⭐️ Happy weekend. Stay safe.

Some recent beautiful conversations about the Earth and creativity remind me to share a joyful experience of land art piece I made called Altars of Belonging. I was able to weave & honor interbeing in moss, strawflowers, bark, & nests. As well as a beloved poem by Joy Harjo, “Remember”.

Guiding light

"I dwell in Possibility." —Emily Dickinson 📷: Charlie Wollborg via Grateful Living

"Every good poem asks a question, and every good poet asks every question. No one can call herself a poet unless she questions her ideas, ethics, and beliefs." - Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux

David Hockney

“Stop the words now. Open the window in the center of your chest, and let the spirits fly in and out.” —Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks)

#Photography Fulvio Roiter

Pay close attention to nuance in nature discover pockets of delight in a world gone mad

“Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.” -Mary Oliver “Messenger”

“Listen, / maybe such devotion, in which one holds the world / in the clasp of attention, isn’t the perfect prayer, / but it must be close…” —Mary Oliver

the heron’s world

"While it’s possible to be careless with language and be a successful writer, it’s not possible to be a great one, for the simple reason that words matter." ~ Richard Russo

La Luna’ signed 8x10”prints are finally available in my shop! joncarling.bigcartel.com

“Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk. Take the phone off the hook. Work regular hours.” —Jane Kenyon (Born on 5/23/1947)

the insistent rising green

Where I get my ideas from

There are different ways and reasons to love books. Apparently.

“When I’m writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how we feel, how we lose and stand up, and go on from darkness into darkness.” ~ Maya Angelou

"In making for ourselves a place to live, we first spread a parasol to throw a shadow on the earth, and in the pale light of the shadow we put together a house." ― Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows #BookSky #Photography Ramón Masats, Spain

Most likely lost