Isn't it very timely, that the first post I see after starting my new season on substack is yours, Jamie? I think you were, if not the first, but certainly the most loyal and supportive of my first fellow substackers in my early days last year. 😊 💕 🙏
Talking of dreams coming true... the way I see it, dreams ALWAYS come true. Not sure I'd agree with 'The Boss'. Who says that 'coming true' implies some physical/ material manifestation? Isn't a dream already true by dreaming? What's wrong with a dream simply being itself?
If a goal is not (yet) achieved it doesn't invalidate the dream. Goals are different animals, another species of creatures in the inner world. They take their cues from dreams. But they are not of the same nature. That goals need to be adjusted is perfectly normal. That's why goal posts are moveable. Shifty buggers... 🤭
Looking forward to that poetic essay...
... meanwhile, the Claw of Archimedes is captivating my imagination, as I join you around that campfire, catching Eureka moments kindled by creative sparks. 🔥 🙏
Veronika is back! Language herself just leaned forward to stare into the fire of words! Welcome back! Missed you and your tapestry of creation. Yes I am reaching for the soul line myself. Here is to the truth of dreams. Thank you for your continued support! That essay will be written. It already was. Somethings are just hard to let go. Now I get to lean into your writing. That is called a Saturday morning special! Bless you Veronika! Thank you 🙏❤️
Wow Katerina. Thank you. No words. Thanks for finding me in the space between self-reflection, philosophy and nature. It can be lonely there. Poetry is what poetry does. To know somebody connects to the words is a gift. I’ll meet you in the spaces between. I appreciate you! Bless you. Thanks for being here 🙏❤️
Thanks Muriel! Nature may just be the only poet! Thanks for reading! Still green down here in the south of Ontario. Bless you a few more weeks of summer sun ☀️ 🙏❤️
Whoa!! So MANY good nuggets in here, and so much synchronicity, as well - rivers and circles have been flowing through me and in me for at least the last week, each being eternal in their forms. Inside each is the meaning, a current that flows in and with and through, we should ride it.
Mmm..."meaning remains the bird that eludes the realm of speech." I LOVE that quote! So much truth in it. And your own share, the last line, kind of sums up that feeling I get from the quote, "Trying hard to name | what they crave | to possess." Meaning has no words, but we crave it and yes, as we try so hard to name it, so we can possess it, but on it flies and so we continue. So, so good!! Beautiful beginnings and endings, perfect in their own flow. Lovely. Just lovely! Thanks for sharing. XO
Thanks Danielle! I’ll definitely keep riding those rivers and widening circles! Ripples…or whatever we call what flows through us. Thank you so much for reading and for reaching out. Enjoy a new school year and the wild forest as it finds you. Bless you 🙏❤️
Just the most wonderful of poems, Jim! One that sits as an equal amongst the Canadian poetry powerhouses you’ve cited here. Grateful for the shout out and for your companionship on this mythopoetic journey we find ourselves on. 🙏💚
Thanks Will! You are a maven, a guide, and a voice of transformation! You make it better my friend. A big thank you and a big hug. Keep sending me on poetic tangents! Bless you 🙏❤️
I love this article. We spend so much time in our heads and we forget to be present. Maybe the answer to the question "what's the sense of life" is "sense life ". At last, how do we experience our humanness? Through our senses and feelings. So why numbing the feeling? Thanks for sharing your wor(ld). 💕
I more and more come to understand that to be human means to be present here. If I am constantly trying to escape this experience then I don't live, do I?
Likewise my thanks good friend, The bike takes me up to a viewing point among the heavy horses, and beyond. Thanks for an earlier suggestion we have a get-together in the not too distant. Sometime next week I hope.
Thank you, dear Jamie; it is wonderful to read your words again!
I admire you for this deeply reflective and thought-provoking piece. Your exploration of the spaces between words, where meaning lingers just out of reach, perfectly captures the core of what poetry is meant to express. What I appreciate about your writing is that it was refreshing to be inspired by someone who truly enjoys poetry in a holistic sense.
I feel that one of your many gifts is the ability to blend self-reflection, philosophy, and a love of nature in a creative way that offers a unique perspective.
I like how your writing is both realistic and dreamy, which is ideal for my way of experience life. I'm learning about poetry the way you see it, so thank you on a personal level.
I'm touched (and I agree) by your observation that creativity does not always follow a plan, and that the true expression of being may occur in the unfolding of those plans.
Your connection between poetry, nature, and the unnameable reminds me that language, like the wilderness, should be experienced rather than mastered.
Thank you for sharing your world of unnaming, untaming, and welcoming presence. It encourages me to keep going in the spaces between, which I enjoy doing and listening for what cannot always be said.
Your words remind me of a learning-curve with respect to Nature. In the 1980s/90s when "Seize The Day" was what we were all supposed to be doing in order to fend off laziness and failure, I always felt an inner grudge against this (perceived) sledgehammer approach to life. A decade later I realised 'the day' does not want to be seized, but enjoyed. I felt your posting had the same essence about it.
Thanks Josh! That claw seizing a day is definitely a paradox. Presence unspeaks from a different place indeed. Something tells me it finds us and that you know what that “means”. Bless you. Thanks for being here. 🙏❤️
Thanks Shelly! I appreciate your kind words and thanks for seeing the paradoxes dancing. I am loving reading David Kopacz. Thanks for supporting fellow heArtists 🙏❤️
Wonderful, Jaime. The muses defy our direction. Words can convey so much or not enough; you’ve crafted the words and feelings beautifully and openly, with so much heArt ❤️. Thank you for this today.
Thank you, Jamie! I am still sketching; I hope to put a post out soonish. It seems I have been left behind by the writing muse 😆. Good luck with your essay, I will be looking forward to it!
Jamie, so lovely to see and feel you here again. 💜.
This all resonates so much. Don's description is perfect: “Poetry helps to enhance and deepen our experience of existence, not just by the use of words, but by the fact that despite their use, something else is carried along with them.”
Your poetic essay is created already somewhere somehow and just waits in the wings for your creative expression to enable it to come forth to the world.
Your poem: stunning.
ps, I'm reading No Great Mischief at the moment. As a fellow Canadian author/master of words I thought worth telling you. The words, the stories interwoven, the spaces in between. One of the best books I've read in ages. 😊
Oooh Jo! No Great Mischief! Alistair MacLeod! One of the best reads ever! Gotta love those Scots! Send the highlanders first - it’s no great mischief. All the Scots did was create a country. Callum Ruadh.
Alistair taught with a relative of ours two hours down the road from here. Was a lovely man. His short story book The Island is wonderful too. Thank you so much for always being here. Your kindness and your support are heartfelt. Big hugs! 🙏❤️
I just shared your message with my daughter regarding you actually Knowing Alistair! Eva has read the book and loves it also. Many of us in NZ have Scottish ancestry and sailed here via Nova Scotia. Would love to visit the area some day.
It is my absolute pleasure to be here. Thank you for all you are. 🙏
Isn't it very timely, that the first post I see after starting my new season on substack is yours, Jamie? I think you were, if not the first, but certainly the most loyal and supportive of my first fellow substackers in my early days last year. 😊 💕 🙏
Talking of dreams coming true... the way I see it, dreams ALWAYS come true. Not sure I'd agree with 'The Boss'. Who says that 'coming true' implies some physical/ material manifestation? Isn't a dream already true by dreaming? What's wrong with a dream simply being itself?
If a goal is not (yet) achieved it doesn't invalidate the dream. Goals are different animals, another species of creatures in the inner world. They take their cues from dreams. But they are not of the same nature. That goals need to be adjusted is perfectly normal. That's why goal posts are moveable. Shifty buggers... 🤭
Looking forward to that poetic essay...
... meanwhile, the Claw of Archimedes is captivating my imagination, as I join you around that campfire, catching Eureka moments kindled by creative sparks. 🔥 🙏
Veronika is back! Language herself just leaned forward to stare into the fire of words! Welcome back! Missed you and your tapestry of creation. Yes I am reaching for the soul line myself. Here is to the truth of dreams. Thank you for your continued support! That essay will be written. It already was. Somethings are just hard to let go. Now I get to lean into your writing. That is called a Saturday morning special! Bless you Veronika! Thank you 🙏❤️
very happy to be back, Jamie 😅 Your enthusiasm warms my heart! Many blessings to you too 💕🙏 🪶
I love this Veronika. Yes dreams are already true once we dreamt them.
Wow Katerina. Thank you. No words. Thanks for finding me in the space between self-reflection, philosophy and nature. It can be lonely there. Poetry is what poetry does. To know somebody connects to the words is a gift. I’ll meet you in the spaces between. I appreciate you! Bless you. Thanks for being here 🙏❤️
Beautifully said, Jamie. Words are what we humans have at our disposal, but in Nature, we learn of another level of communication that are not words.
So true! Thank you for reading and for reaching out Perry on a difficult day. Big hugs. 🙏❤️
Poetry, like symbols, are portals. Maybe Nature needs the poet to apprehend Herself. I look forward to your essay.
Thanks Muriel! Nature may just be the only poet! Thanks for reading! Still green down here in the south of Ontario. Bless you a few more weeks of summer sun ☀️ 🙏❤️
This post has just warmed my heart - poetry being the closest to express what cannot be … with language. Love the poem too. 🙏💜
Wow thank you so much Simone! Thanks for the kind words and for reading 🙏❤️
You're very welcome Jamie🤗
Dear Jamie,
Whoa!! So MANY good nuggets in here, and so much synchronicity, as well - rivers and circles have been flowing through me and in me for at least the last week, each being eternal in their forms. Inside each is the meaning, a current that flows in and with and through, we should ride it.
Mmm..."meaning remains the bird that eludes the realm of speech." I LOVE that quote! So much truth in it. And your own share, the last line, kind of sums up that feeling I get from the quote, "Trying hard to name | what they crave | to possess." Meaning has no words, but we crave it and yes, as we try so hard to name it, so we can possess it, but on it flies and so we continue. So, so good!! Beautiful beginnings and endings, perfect in their own flow. Lovely. Just lovely! Thanks for sharing. XO
I look forward to your essay!! XO
Thanks Danielle! I’ll definitely keep riding those rivers and widening circles! Ripples…or whatever we call what flows through us. Thank you so much for reading and for reaching out. Enjoy a new school year and the wild forest as it finds you. Bless you 🙏❤️
Just the most wonderful of poems, Jim! One that sits as an equal amongst the Canadian poetry powerhouses you’ve cited here. Grateful for the shout out and for your companionship on this mythopoetic journey we find ourselves on. 🙏💚
Thanks Will! You are a maven, a guide, and a voice of transformation! You make it better my friend. A big thank you and a big hug. Keep sending me on poetic tangents! Bless you 🙏❤️
I love this article. We spend so much time in our heads and we forget to be present. Maybe the answer to the question "what's the sense of life" is "sense life ". At last, how do we experience our humanness? Through our senses and feelings. So why numbing the feeling? Thanks for sharing your wor(ld). 💕
Thanks Sadhbh! I appreciate your reading. Is that humanness presence? I can only live in to the questions. Thanks for being here. 🙏❤️
I more and more come to understand that to be human means to be present here. If I am constantly trying to escape this experience then I don't live, do I?
That’s another question we get to live into 🙏❤️
Much to like, commentariat!
Words and bones, sounds like divination along that Canadian river - maps and dreams.
A poem for the record!
I too am looking forward
Thanks my friend! The current is taking us where she will. Bless you! Hope the bike is rolling along beside your rivers 🙏❤️
Likewise my thanks good friend, The bike takes me up to a viewing point among the heavy horses, and beyond. Thanks for an earlier suggestion we have a get-together in the not too distant. Sometime next week I hope.
Thank you, dear Jamie; it is wonderful to read your words again!
I admire you for this deeply reflective and thought-provoking piece. Your exploration of the spaces between words, where meaning lingers just out of reach, perfectly captures the core of what poetry is meant to express. What I appreciate about your writing is that it was refreshing to be inspired by someone who truly enjoys poetry in a holistic sense.
I feel that one of your many gifts is the ability to blend self-reflection, philosophy, and a love of nature in a creative way that offers a unique perspective.
I like how your writing is both realistic and dreamy, which is ideal for my way of experience life. I'm learning about poetry the way you see it, so thank you on a personal level.
I'm touched (and I agree) by your observation that creativity does not always follow a plan, and that the true expression of being may occur in the unfolding of those plans.
Your connection between poetry, nature, and the unnameable reminds me that language, like the wilderness, should be experienced rather than mastered.
Thank you for sharing your world of unnaming, untaming, and welcoming presence. It encourages me to keep going in the spaces between, which I enjoy doing and listening for what cannot always be said.
With heartfelt gratitude and warmth!
Good luck with your essay!
Your words remind me of a learning-curve with respect to Nature. In the 1980s/90s when "Seize The Day" was what we were all supposed to be doing in order to fend off laziness and failure, I always felt an inner grudge against this (perceived) sledgehammer approach to life. A decade later I realised 'the day' does not want to be seized, but enjoyed. I felt your posting had the same essence about it.
Thanks Josh! That claw seizing a day is definitely a paradox. Presence unspeaks from a different place indeed. Something tells me it finds us and that you know what that “means”. Bless you. Thanks for being here. 🙏❤️
You offer so many paradoxes and good food for thought with this post, Jamie! “The crackling of presence
conceals the sound
of knowledge and understanding”
Your poetry names why we need wordsmiths like you to see and share the nameless! :)
Thanks Shelly! I appreciate your kind words and thanks for seeing the paradoxes dancing. I am loving reading David Kopacz. Thanks for supporting fellow heArtists 🙏❤️
Wonderful, Jaime. The muses defy our direction. Words can convey so much or not enough; you’ve crafted the words and feelings beautifully and openly, with so much heArt ❤️. Thank you for this today.
Thank you Jenn! I look forward to seeing some sketches soon as the muse finds you. Bless you on back to school time. Thanks for all your support. 🙏❤️
Thank you, Jamie! I am still sketching; I hope to put a post out soonish. It seems I have been left behind by the writing muse 😆. Good luck with your essay, I will be looking forward to it!
Jamie, so lovely to see and feel you here again. 💜.
This all resonates so much. Don's description is perfect: “Poetry helps to enhance and deepen our experience of existence, not just by the use of words, but by the fact that despite their use, something else is carried along with them.”
Your poetic essay is created already somewhere somehow and just waits in the wings for your creative expression to enable it to come forth to the world.
Your poem: stunning.
ps, I'm reading No Great Mischief at the moment. As a fellow Canadian author/master of words I thought worth telling you. The words, the stories interwoven, the spaces in between. One of the best books I've read in ages. 😊
Oooh Jo! No Great Mischief! Alistair MacLeod! One of the best reads ever! Gotta love those Scots! Send the highlanders first - it’s no great mischief. All the Scots did was create a country. Callum Ruadh.
Alistair taught with a relative of ours two hours down the road from here. Was a lovely man. His short story book The Island is wonderful too. Thank you so much for always being here. Your kindness and your support are heartfelt. Big hugs! 🙏❤️
I just shared your message with my daughter regarding you actually Knowing Alistair! Eva has read the book and loves it also. Many of us in NZ have Scottish ancestry and sailed here via Nova Scotia. Would love to visit the area some day.
It is my absolute pleasure to be here. Thank you for all you are. 🙏
No name
Yes, “It’s” there.
Greetings Sir Jamie, so good to hear your voice! Happy Autumn, Geraldine
Thanks Geraldine no name needed for a Queen of words! Bless you 🙏🙏
I’m feeling cryptic, I smell Autumn in the air arriving in my senses with a tender nudge and a colorful glare. How can no name be so, perfect.
You’re so sweet Jamie, a sincere sister hug coming your way!