Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
The Bliss of Is
And now I am delighted to announce my first hardback book: The Bliss of Is.
Inside this book, you’ll find little poems and paintings. The poems mostly emerged over several years of writing daily for National Poetry Month. I selected thirty favorites and—in keeping with the quick-spirited writing—painted one watercolor a day for a month for each poem. All in celebration of the daily practice of presence.
I invite you to that practice. Take a moment to meditate on a poem-painting each day for thirty days, or read them all in thirty minutes, or both! May you enjoy playing in the realm of art + word + spirit.
Here’s one of the poems:
I spot a scrap of fallen paper,
& as I bend to pick it up, I see
it is not trash but a square of light.
I pick it up anyway.
If you’d like to enjoy the full gathering of meditative poems & paintings, you can order yourself a copy here. Do note that this particular book has very long ship times; think of it as a surprise when it finally arrives—a gift to your future self in time for this year’s National Poetry Month!
If you'd like a copy sooner, I still have a few left of a limited run of signed books. More info in my newsletter. Contact me if interested.
May we know the bliss of is—of being right here, right now.
Love,
Anna
Monday, January 29, 2024
Of Green Fuses and Flowers
The force that through the green fuse drives the flower…
—Dylan Thomas
The first month of the year makes for great hibernation—for hunkering down into the soil of the creative work. For me, January is like the Monday of the year; it gets the “green fuse” going. This month, I sent out a big project into the world (here’s hoping!) and prepared to announce a little one (soon!).
Big or small, all the work happens day by day until one day, what was the bud of an idea finally blossoms. Not unlike the amaryllis above. Though I took the second photo only two weeks after the first, this can be what a year looks like. Or a decade. Or a life.
O—all the planting and tending that precede the beauty of bloom!
Blessings on all the things flowering in your life this year.
Love,
Anna
Thursday, December 28, 2023
Questions for Advent
Each day of Advent, I created a little bit of art + word + spirit and shared them in social media land. Here are a few for you. May your coming year be filled with good answers!
Can we see the lovingkindness in the darkness? Can we be the lovingkindness, lifting darkness? |
What love within us lifts us from our losses? What name will we give this win? |
Instead of being jaded by the gravity of our world, can we shift the ellipsis of our hearts? Can we “be aware” from the anagram galaxy of “bare awe”? |
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Three Poems
This photo by Sergey N. is paired with my poem, “On Meeting Strangers.” |
In the manner of lovely, inexplicable things, three of my poems appeared this month in three lovely places. A month of gratitude, for sure. Enjoy!
“The Light Inside” in Rust + Moth
“On Meeting Strangers” in Ekstasis
“Then” in Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality & the Arts