I am finally “growing up” maybe? I didn’t know it but I began learning this at Wheaton College under both the spiritual and theater /acting guidance of Dr. James Young — Jimma, as he was called. I shared this today with the folks who were part of that world-changing time of mine today in a group called “Workout”, and thought someone in my other “worlds” might need to hear this today.
In that theatre group, after warming up with yoga exercises ( back before any one in America knew anything about yoga but weird theatre people!), we would often do…
Listen With Your Heart — a poem
By Jane Tawel
April 12, 2021
*
I don’t know why the birds keep singing, but they do.
When every thing is horrible. It’s true.
My mind is on the negative, transfixed.
The world is broken and our minds up-mixed.
*
I wake up every day and burn the wick down,
Before my feet have even touched the hard ground.
But little bird is on a branch a-sway,
With ne’er a worry of the coming day.
*
If God is in the Heavens, He’s in birds, too.
And that would mean, that God’s…
To My Friends Reading Here, Feast On This
A friend posted an article today entitled, “The Case Against Shakespeare” and the article, (not my friend) both angered and saddened me. The bottom line of this article was that we shouldn’t “force” any one to read the classics like Shakespeare because this keeps someone from learning to love to read. Now if I only take that one argument, all I need is a subscription to Netflix and a video game to prove the author wrong on why people don’t read anymore. However, one thing made my head want to explode, and I of course I had to write about…
Whatever one’s belief system, this is historically a good weekend to meditate on what makes a belief “true”. If I say I believe something, but don’t in fact, myself, act in accordance with it, what is the meaning and purpose of my belief? …
(But For Now, Here are Five)
One Thousand and One Things I Should Be Doing to Make My Life More Meaningful
(But For Now, Here are Five)
By Jane Tawel
March 31, 2021
Now that I am of an age, there are regrets, of course about wasted time and wasted energy, wasted dreams, and wasted relationships. But of course, looking back on regrets is worthless if I can not use them to make myself, or at least just my day better. With hope and a bit of luck, maybe I can even make my “Tomorrow Me” much better. …
My friend got me thinking today about racist policies and systemic racism in this country. Well, how are not we thinking about that — we should not “move on” from incident to incident like lemmings. So I thought I would share some meditations on that here as well (does Jane never get tired of putting targets on her metaphorical back, you ask? No, heaven forbid when so many people of color have not just metaphorical but literal targets on their backs.)
Thank you, Kathleen — Tough conversations on racism in our policies and systems sounds like a good conversation. Especially…
Gasping at Glimmers
By Jane Tawel
March 24, 2021
*
God-intentioned,
The world breathes, in and out
in and out; and good things come to rest.
When any little thing expires,
another respires in its place.
We settle for moving forward, and not the best
found in realities outside the bounds
of acceptable behavior.
The world is pale with shadows,
and Sudden! Awesome Moment Is —
overcome by the ennui of bully time.
I am left gasping at glimmers.
*
Oh, to see The Face,
of Whom my meaning mirrors!
There is a holiness in all;
With backs turned
to…
I have been "preaching" this for so long now, like so much dust in the wind. Orwell mentions this very thing in an "Animal Farm" intro about American capitalism being like the USSR, although it has been next to impossible to teach that and convince all my American students of the similarities and dangers -- much to my chagrine. One disagreement -- it has been a long, long time since the opposite of predatory capitalism was preached from the pulpits of America on Sundays. One of the great tragedies of my own life is to see what Americans have done…
Life-lines — a poem
By Jane Tawel
March 19, 2021
*
When I was young,
my mind and heart
were intertwined
like scribbled lines.
When one is young,
separating scrambled lines
is the monumental task
of growing-up.
I failed at much of it
but some lines straightened,
into the miracle of
Due North.
The dots and dashes,
the broken, mended bits of line
Still encompass and still
compass me forth.
*
When I became
Two, and then more;
and “my” became “our”
heart, mind and soul;
We formed a new me.
And I took the bow of us in hand…
Sky and Earth in Rain
Four Poems
By Jane Tawel
March 13, 2021
Poem One
*
Sky’s brow sweats with labor;
the earth is replenished
with heaven’s pleasing perspiration.
Earth, in her turn, turns.
Round and round and round
flinging ocean, sea, and pond
back into Sky’s opened-mouth face.
Sky as Heaven, Earth as Gaia,
powerful in servitude to each other;
delighting in shared toiling.
Earth dances, opening herself up
to Sky’s rain and —
both, so in love!
Heaven and Gaia merge,
symbiotic in creation.
*
Poem Two
*
The blues of sky are borne-away
and seeming dead in…
Jane Tawel
Still not old enough to know better. Enjoys philosophy, spirituality, poetry, books of all genres.Often torn between encouragement & self-directed chastisement.
