Heart of the Lotus

Saturday was light-filled and clear, a warm 60 degrees outside for this time of year.

There was also added lightness in a different sense, the kind that I think I haven't felt in quite a while.

Perhaps that kind of lightness I'm talking about is the one I read about in texts on creativity-- the kind that resides, or so the mystics say, in the heart of the lotus, the kind of expansive and light-filled space within that allows us to find our focus and make even simple things we see and do, wonder-ful.

Perhaps, the theme of lightness was ushered in also in part by the late breakfast we had of beignets dusted with confectioner s sugar, cocoa and a little chai powder. (The beignet mix was brought back from New Orleans by the hubby after his training seminar there recently. The beignets puffed up quite nicely in the pan.)

In any case, before I had my first sip of coffee, whilst idling through Facebook to read messages from friends near and far, I came across Dave Bonta's morning observation of the pileated woodpecker on his site, Via Negativa; and I thought his lines were pure poetry.

The image of his pileated woodpecker pivoting up the tree was particularly fetching, and I was moved to re-lineate his prose lines, turn them into a found poem, and add a second stanza.

Let me just say that it made me ridiculously happy to be able to use those cool lines, and such a cool word, pawl, in a poem (thank you, Dave).

The rest of the day was spent mostly running errands and taking our youngest daughter and her BFF to their regular music lesson.

And, tonight, daughter's BFF's parents took daughter along with them to dinner so hubby and I could walk to the mall nearby (squeezing through crowds lined up on Granby street waiting for the Grand Illumination parade) for some buffalo chicken-bacon-cilantro pizza and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc each.

Here is the link to Dave's post and our collaborative poem on Via Negativa. I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.vianegativa.us/2010/11/stay/