See

Most things are not inscrutable.

In general, things are waiting

to tell you what they are,

waiting for that catch of eye

that shows you’ve seen them,

waiting for the mutual tug

that shows you’re tracking,

ready to notice

what they’ll show

Most things long

for the steady cohesion

of your attention.

They’ll thrive under it,

they’ll yield their deepest secrets

willingly, elatedly —

so fulfilled they are

at having been seen,

really seen,

at having been known by you.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 24, 2014

May Rain

The morning’s soft rain,

heralded by wind chimes

at the open south window,

conversed about by crows,

welcomed by waiting seedlings,

settled in cozy,

the outside air still warm enough

to allow it the run of the house,

the gentleness of May

embracing the quiet wetness

as fully as it yesterday

embraced the sun.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 23, 2014

Quiet

(Matthew’s Beach, half past noon)

My mind is quiet,

As quiet as this water

with its slow undulation

and its quicker shimmers,

As quiet as the glide

of goose families on the lake,

Open to sky reflection

and the darker view

(underside of ripples)

of refracted colors

from the bottom, from the shore

My mind is quiet,

and the gentle, ruffling breezes

that rise from time to time

and stir up little waves along the shore

Are as patient and as aimless

as the fluff of cottonwoods

drifting and resting,

and the shafts of rippled sun,

Oblivious to all the local chatter

and the drone of distant boats

Quiet as the depth of

no need for decisions

as the day flows along

its broad and open course.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 22, 2014

Your Calling

There is a time

when the goal comes into view —

When you first see it

it may be blurry

like the moon through clouds

but it will insist

And though you may resist

by picking up whatever else

had ever held your interest,

You will drop them

or they will fall away

because they lack the light

to capture your attention,

You will look up from them

and the goal will shine

That’s when you’re ready

to bring everything —

all your dedication, your humility,

your earnest perseverance,

your steady work,

your insight

and your eager readiness

to be forever sparked,

because this is your course

and you will run it.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 21, 2014

In the Tent of the Universe

Oh, this life!

One thing I know —

Every separate thing

will come together

in some unimaginable arc.

Everything that seems so

out of whack

will still come round again,

in countless iterations, subtle shiftings,

till it turns out to be

the essential linchpin

of some delicious dimension

we’d never known before,

opening our sights,

vastly multiplying

the realms wherein we fly.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 20, 2014

In the Company of Plants

The day knew how

to sit with me calmly,

to let me move

in my own rhythm,

to let me get better

in the company of plants —

tomato and basil and leek starts,

green onions, kale —

No demands were made

on my attention

while I moved slowly

in emerging sun

through tasks that kept my hands

in contact with the crumbly soil,

learning its nourishment,

approaching whole.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 19, 2014

Gratitude for Activists

Those who fight for freedom

to be themselves beyond the norms of gender

fight for us all,

for we are all constricted by the norms

Those who fight oppression against women

fight for us all,

for every slighting of the worth of any person

slights us all

Living in privilege

makes people stupid,

because, in that mythos,

it’s to our advantage

to simply not notice

that we are complicit

in others’ suppression

There is no us and them

and every one of us

who lifts a voice in courage,

to be heard and seen and known,

makes room for more of us

under the sky,

to find our voices

and to claim our own,

to lift our many-colored heads

and grow more free.

©Wendy Mulhern

May 18, 2014