Robert MacFarlane - Apr 4, Fun with Chairs
The best rabbit I could find for Easter…wrong season, but a beautiful image.
Snow Hare
…
Hare, walking, is graceless;
all long-limbed levers
By the Salmon River,
on the Road of Reavers,
Awkward pistons, steam-powered
shunts and sudden shocks
By the Ford of the Pines,
in the Hollow of the Fox,
Running Hare, though, flows through
snow like water over stone -
By the Cliff of the Kite,
at the Peak of the Rowan.
Each long line of tracks a row
of inkwells in the white.
Theodore Roethke - April 1, Iyengar II & I
More Roethke I know, but I thought these “Childrens’ Poems” were perfect for April Fool’s Day. The best children’s literature is is for grown ups!
The Hippo
A Head or Tail—which does he lack?
I think his Forward's coming back!
He lives on Carrots, Leeks and Hay;
He starts to yawn—it takes All Day—
The Lizard
The Time to Tickle a Lizard.
Is Before, or Right After, a Blizzard.
Now the place to begin
Is just under his Chin,_
And here's more Advice:
Don't Poke more than Twice
At an Intimate Place like his Gizzard.
Mary DeMeo - Mar 30, Iyengar II & I
Lena Hakim sent me this collection she found, written by the Santa Fe Haiku Study Group. I just love that there was a Santa Fe Haiku Study Group! These were written by a long-time Yoga practitioner. They capture the essence of these asanas beautifully!
mountain pose
silvery streams
slide from my shoulders
balance pose
when everything else is shifting
handstand
pushing gently
against the fear
Theodore Roethke - Mar 28, Fun with Chairs
More love for the Moon.
The Dance
…
I tried to fling my shadow at the moon,
The while my blood leaped with a wordless song.
Though dancing needs a master, I had none
To teach my toes to listen to my tongue.
But what I learned there, dancing all alone, ,
Was not the joyless motion of a stone.
…
Theodore Roethke - Mar 28, Iyengar Sunday Fun
For a Full Moon class with a “dancing” Ardha Chandrasana. So beautiful. Thanks to Naomi Milne who gave me a Roethke collection.
The Sequel
…
II
I saw a body dancing in the wind,
A shape called up out of my natural mind;
I heard a bird stir in its true confine;
A nestling sighed—I called that nestling mine;
A partridge drummed; a minnow nudged its stone;
We danced, we danced, under a dancing moon;
And on the coming of the outrageous dawn,
We danced together, we danced on and on.
…
Edna St. Vincent - Mar 25, Iyengar II
I feel this way a lot! Even more during Covid…
Grown-Up
Is it for this I uttered prayers,
And sobbed and cursed and kicked the stairs,
That now, domestic as a plate,
I should retire at half-past eight?
Adele in Simhasana
Continuing our pets doing Yoga series. If you are unfamiliar with Simhasana, look it up in Light on Yoga. The tongue is an integral part of the posture!
Izumi Shikibu - Mar 23, Iyengar I
From 10th century Japan to Spring in New Mexico!
I wonder
if the wind scythes a path
through my garden's wild grass
so someone can come
to visit?
Izumi Shikibu - Mar 23, Iyengar II
For the early birds…from 10th Century Japan, but still feels familiar!
Watching the moon
at dawn,
solitary, mid-sky,
I knew myself completely,
no part left out.
Ha Jin - Mar 21, Sunday Fun & Chair Class
From an immigrant, the dangers of generalizing or stereotyping , anywhere. Translated from the original Chinese, by the poet.
CONCRETENESS AND CLARITY
You pointed at my face and said, “How
could you let one person's memory
embody a billion people's experience?
This is like letting a dot represent
a vast surface - a distorted reality!”
A billion is a huge number.
Even Einstein
might be wary of it.
What do a billion faces look like?
How do a billion voices sound?
Not able to hear or see clearly,
you would have a head stuffed with clouds -
there'd be the same story for everyone.
Give me solidity and clarity.
Let me see one face, then another;
let me hear one voice, then another.
Big numbers can produce
only confusion and fraudulence.
Eavan Boland - Mar 18, Iyengar II & I
For the day after, I understand mixed feelings about celebrating St. Patrick’s Day . Instead I’m offering a devotional piece about one person’s relationship with Ireland.
MOTHER IRELAND
At first
I was land.
I lay on my back to be fields
and when I turned
on my side
I was a hill
under freezing stars.
I did not see.
I was seen.
Night and day
words fell on me.
Seeds. Raindrops.
Chips of frost.
From one of them
I learned my name.
I rose up. I remembered it.
Now I could tell my story.
It was different
from the story told about me.
And now also
it was spring.
I could see the wound I had left
in the land by leaving it.
I travelled west.
Once there
I looked with so much love
at every field
as it unfolded
its rusted wheel and its pram chassis
and at the gorse-
bright distances
I had been that they misunderstood me.
Come back to us
they said
Trust me I whispered.
Eugene Guillevic - Mar 16 Iyengar II & I
Making up for missing Pi day, from a fun collection titled Geometries.
Curve
To have a meaning
Of which you are
Completely sure.
No need to claim
Significance
In the eyes
Of anyone else but you.
Erica Hunt - Mar 14, Iyengar Sunday Fun & Chair Class
After Daylight Savings time change, “jump the clock” and more…
Octavio Paz's calendar
the sun pours into pools of heat
the same sun you round up to 584 days
I tab at 365 and change not keeping score
traveling the gusts sweeping the sphere
we breathe the same air
eyes open or closed still connect dots
linking one stutter to the next stutter
and another year of stagger to skip to
skipped beat and trick another year's draw
snatched from the jaws of ambiguity.
Not everyone makes it
To face forward towards the sun
Not everyone lives to jump the clock or
outwit the gaze that would turn us into stones
Not everyone lives to wake the dead if they have to.
Erica Hunt - Mar 11, Iyengar II & I
After a year of learning how much we took connection for granted, then discovered new forms of connection, here’s another possibility. The connection of author to reader, reader to author. Is this a two-way street? Just a thought…
Reader we were meant to meet
and not disappear in the dredging
the edited ledgers omit antiphonal groans
Reader, you were meant to be legible
even in the failure to communicate
your will to resist snatching defeat
from the jaws of easy victory the truth slips in as a figure of speech.
Reader step into my room
this page faces you . ..
what will I miss if you blink
what blots the ink pens and hems the imagination
what hides in the brackish
back stories hostile to the wobbled word,
what resists being pinned to the truth?
Reader, we are carbon, and more
the exact degree of life is inestimable—
some of us chew ice and others suck chalk
some crave salt before there is savor
others can never be too full of sugar or bourbon
sucker punched and stunned by death's pugnacious brawl
into dream time and song, extending both ends
night into day.
Touch, reader, we were meant to touch
to exchange definitions and feed the pulse of
language. I promise if you step in
it will propel you, me, it:
topple distinctions
ease doubt and belief, and
all that in between.
Facial Hairstyles and Filtering Facepiece Respirators - from the CDC
Sharing as requested, I saw a version of this in a New York Times articles about male ski patrol members freaking out about shaving their beards to wear facemasks effectively. Hilarious!
Nayyirah Waheed - Mar 9, Iyengar II & I
The previous poet wrote on clay tablets 4500 years ago. Today’s poet is active today, publishing her work on Instagram. Nayyirah Waheed is intensely private. She does not publish photos of herself or reveal details about her biography. There is a chance we know more about Enheduana, which I think is interesting. Her work is generally short but potent.
if someone
does not want me
it is not the end of the world.
but
if i do not want me
the world is nothing but endings
Enheduanna - Mar 8th, Iyengar II
For International Women’s Day, the oldest named author in any language. Enheduanna was a priestess & princess living in the Sumerian city of Ur, in modern day Iraq. She lived and wrote from 2285-2250 BCE; 500 years before Gilgamesh and 1500 years before Homer.
This piece is an excerpt from a longer devotional poem dedicated to Inana, the goddess of love and war; an interesting and fierce combination.
The Exaltation of Inana
…
122-138 …Be it known that you arc lofty as the heavens! Be it known that you are broad as the earthy! Be it known that you destroy the rebel lands. Be it known that you roar at the foreign lands! Be it known that you crush heads! Be it known that you devour corpses like a dog! Be it known that your gaze is terrible! Be it known that you that you lift your terrible gaze! Be it known that you have flashing eyes! Be it known that you are unshakeable and unyielding! Be it known that you always stand triumphant…
144-154 The powerful lady, respected in the gathering of rulers, has accepted her offerings. Inana's holy heart has been assuaged. The light was sweet for her, delight extended over her, she was full of fairest beauty. Like the light of the rising moon, she exuded delight. Nanna came out to gaze at her properly, and her mother Ningal blessed her. The door posts greeted her. Everyone's speech to the mistress is exalted. Praise be to the destroyer of foreign lands, endowed with divine powers by An, to my lady enveloped in beauty, to Inana!
Heraclitus - Mar 7, Iyengar SunDay Fun
Continuing - I have a fondness for very short haiku-like, sutra-like poems, from other times and places. From an ancient voice, this beautiful fragment could describe the path we travel together/not-together.
I have sought for myself.
We step and do not step into the same rivers;
we are and are not.
Prone Parsva Chin-to-Bed-asana: A Canine Asana - Mar 6
If anyone has photos of canine, feline, or other non-human family members practicing yoga, send them my way!
Aditi Machado - March 4, Iyengar II & I
On my birthday - I have a fondness for very short haiku-like, sutra-like poems, from other times and places. From a contemporary voice, this could describe the path of yoga. I am grateful for all of those I’ve witnessed grow along this path, as they’ve witnessed my interior growth. Thank you!
‘There is,’ I say, ‘inside you
an absence.’ ‘There is,’ I say, ‘inside you
a presence.’ I watch your interior grow.