Remember those New Year’s Resolutions?

 

Spring is a time of reawakening.

Just as the Earth is waking up and the life force in dormant seeds has begun to work toward germination and sprouting this is a time when we can begin to see some changes in the areas of our life we were working on. On hikes I find myself eyeing the buds on the tips of the cottonwood branches and watching for the aspen catkins to pop open. When I am in the yard I examine the garden beds for sprouts, gauging the progress the poppies are making and searching for early signs of crocuses or daffodils.

It’s a great time to check in on those critical areas of Family, Finance, Health, Relationships and our various goals and to do lists. How are we doing? What can we see as “markers” that progress is being made in these areas or other parts of our life. Are we making decisions and taking action in the direction of our dreams? Do we need to change direction a bit, slow down or speed up? Do we need to redirect a bit more of our time or energy in a particular direction or maybe just get back on track?

…[More]

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“Change your thoughts, change your life.”
~Wayne Dyer

David Anthony Martin: Empowered Path Coach.
Your Ally in Achieving Your Goals, navigating inspired Life Transformation and Living Your Dream!

Contact me to set up a FREE initial conversation.
I’d love to get to know you and see how we can partner together toward inspired action
and success on your authentic path forward into the life of your dreams.

davidamartin@live.com

 

New Poem of the Week: Underlying Truths About Poetry and Who We Are

“The truth of a poem is actually much deeper
than whether or not something really happened.
What matters is an undergirding truth that I think is the power of poetry
and I think that, when I veer from that even by a syllable,
it’s my job to know if I’ve veered from that.”
~Dr. Elizabeth Alexander

Listening to On Being with Krista Tippet is a regular part of my week although it airs on Sunday, I do not always listen on Sunday but stream it when I have a chance. Last night while cutting vegetables for our salad I was listening to Krista’s interview with Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, who is a poet and professor at Yale University who recently wrote and delivered “Praise Song for the Day” at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration.

As a poet this interview was very interesting, however it’s impact went beyond interesting as it seemed to speak directly to a poem I had crafted this year. When Elizabeth Alexander said that poetry is “not all love, love, love,
and I’m sorry the dog died.” it immediately reminded me of my poem, “Sometimes, dogs”

This poem, “Sometimes, dogs” is a poem that gave me pause to reflect as it is the only poem I have written in which the “plot” and movement of events is not accurately drawn from a single experience in my life, rather it is a hybrid of experiences woven together into an anecdotal narrative-styled poem. It is a poem of experience; a poem, which I hope, allows us to “…think about who we are.” 

A bit later in the interview she elaborates, saying “You know, when I say ‘poetry is not all love, love, love,’ I mean romantic love is where we go first with the word. But really there is so much more to the word. The word is sober. The word is grave. The word is not just about something light and happy and pleasurable. The word calls up deep, deep responsibilities.”

She talks about how poetry has always been about community, that at it’s roots it is part of the societal discussion. She implies that this is the impetus of poetry, or at least a part of it’s functioning, when she says that it’s essence is “I gotta tell you my story. I gotta tell you what happened. Let’s think about who we are.”

Even though I understand the context of what Dr. Alexander was speaking to, I also received a different message, a message that helped me to understand my own poem. “Sometimes, dogs” is a poem about being sorry that the dog died, and so much more which falls into the category of both about love and about the dog dying and about sober, grave issues which I believe are calling us to brave, deep responsibilities to talk about who we are.

sometimes, dogs

If you have had a dog,
then you know their pure love,
and most, their frailty

sometimes, dogs outlive their offspring
yet their lifespan is still shorter than their owners’
especially the children they’ve grown up playing with

you have tasted the sweetness your own life
in their tail wagging from ear to ear
as much you have tasted your own mortality
in the foreshadow of their passing

… [Read More]

~David Anthony Martin
Copyright 2013

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You can stream the pod cast or read the transcript from the interview with Dr. Alexander at On Being.

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This poem is part of my current notebook. I have a manuscript, Deepening the Map being considered for publication, another manuscript, Owl Light nearly ready to submit and well on my way with this next notebook toward another manuscript in the works.

If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which will soon be out of print, but currently can still be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

If you are unable to find a distributor with available copies, I do have a few copies left at home, contact me to purchase them via my blogsite and PayPal.

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Ted Kooser helped me write the new Poem of the Week

Ted Kooser,  former United States Poet Laureate (2004-2006) sugest in his book The Poetry Repair Manual (p.30) he mentions that he sometimes turns his poems upside down so that the opening lines are the last. He suggests that sometimes he likes this better, that it changes the flow of the information. I have found that shuffling poem stanzas in a different order than originally written also can have very interesting effects and inform the creation of the poem.

During the process of cleaning and reworking poems for Owl Light I recently used this technique for a challenging poem. The second stanza wasn’t working out well and so I flipped it on it’s head. When I did this I ended up seeing things i could rearrange and rework, this then led me to change a few choice words and work with the line length and eventually encapsulate the previous fragmented poem into one cohesive poem sans stanzas. The result is the poem ache, which now has added nuances and a more open relation to the reader and the readers interpretation, reception and companionship.

ache

little red flower beating in it’s phony, bony cage
stalk it a sunbeam, and what little water it cries for
put it to bed, soft and warm . . . [more]

~ David Anthony Martin
copyright, 2013

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This poem is part of my current work in progress Owl Light, a manuscript nearly ready to submit. I have a manuscript, Deepening the Map being considered for publication, and am well on my way with this next notebook toward another manuscript in the works.

If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which will soon be out of print, but currently can still be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

If you are unable to find a distributor with available copies, I do have a few copies left at home, contact me to purchase them via my blogsite and PayPal.

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Poem of the Week: Moments

These sunny days after the recent snows have been so cold, but from inside looking out the window each morning I see the sunlight move down Middle Creek Canyons walls and south-facing Mountain Shrubland slopes and slip silently into the Ponderosa Pine ecosystem gracing and touching everything with its yellow, golden light, illuminating the richness of the ruddy pine bark and the lichen but especially making the snow laden landscape glow with brilliance.

moment

sun presses honey slips
silently touching pines
parting snowy scrim
flake capped bundles
silent milk wide swaths
… [More]

~David Anthony Martin, copyright 2013

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This poem is part of my current notebook. I have a manuscript, Deepening the Map being considered for publication, another manuscript, Owl Light nearly ready to submit and well on my way with this next notebook toward another manuscript in the works.

If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which will soon be out of print, but currently can still be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

If you are unable to find a distributor with available copies, I do have a few copies left at home, contact me to purchase them via my blogsite and PayPal.

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To buy Span now with Paypal, Click on image below.

     

Span | A Collection of Poems by David A. Martin
Paperback, 144 pages.

$9.95 + tax and shipping.
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Poem of the Week: Prayer Flags

This poem was written after coming in from snow shoveling and having another incident of a reoccuring where the movement of the prayer flags brought to mind an illusion of something else, some other possibility which my mind threw up as a perceptual option with which to “see” reality.  It points to the nature of the mind. I also enjoyed the consideration that our breathing is much akin to the relationship and intended function of the prayer flag, that interdependent atmosphere of wind or breath becoming a relational connection to all carrying our spirit and influence outward as well as receiving the spirit or influence of all inward.

prayer flags

the mind regularly mistakes
porch corner’s prayer flags fluttering
for the hummingbird corner of my eye

at times it sees a squirrel on the rail
moving in increments to the napping spot

last fall their leaf colors caught my eye
turning … [MORE]
~David Anthony Martin, copyright 2013

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If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which can be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

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To buy Span now with Paypal, Click on image below.

     

Span | A Collection of Poems by David A. Martin
Paperback, 144 pages.

$9.95 + tax and shipping.
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New Empowered Path Article: How to celebrate NOT getting a job.

That’s right, failing to clinch the deal on a new position,
promotion or job can be a very empowering experience
that moves you closer to your goals and dreams.  

So, when you look at it that way, it’s time to celebrate!

Why celebrate? Celebrating this event will reinforce it as a positive step in your life, a refining moment and it’s something to look forward to in future job application attempts or other times which most people think of as “lost battles” or “failures”, but there is no failure unless you decide to see it that way.

To read the article and learn what this challenging Life situation can mean to you and how it can improve your Life and why you might want to consider making it a moment to celebrate click on the link below.

How to Celebrate NOT Getting the Job.

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photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/windysydney/3495242464/”>windy_sydney</a&gt; via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a&gt; <a href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/”>cc</a&gt;

Poem of the Week: Setting up House

setting up house

You emerge from behind the curtain of the bedroom
clothed in winter’s black and grey, soft shirt
unbuttoned sweater

with our best eye we frame what nature presents us
smiling back at us over it’s shoulder
as it flies to where we cannot go . . .

[More]

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If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which can be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

__________________________________________________________________________________
To buy Span now with Paypal, Click on image below.

     

Span | A Collection of Poems by David A. Martin
Paperback, 144 pages.

$9.95 + tax and shipping.
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Poem of the Week contemplates a deer skull

alas, poor deer

pale, curved beauty of the moon here, half buried until now, 
pitted and lined and neglected like old china plate, unearthed

living green algal creep in the clutches of cranial sutures

the meek inherit the porous structures 
vaticania stained by the catholic creep of microbes 

clutching deep like a river, branches and swells
penetrating and taking its timely place, 
filling in the blanks between the banks 
of ossified oxbows and switchbacks

[Read More…]

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If you like this poem, consider reading a few of my new poems on my blog and checking out my book Span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which can be purchased as an eBook and read on most devices or as a beautiful paperback to be held in your hands and taken with you on your day.  The cover art by Mathias Valdez of Last Leaf Printing takes the book as object” concept to a lovely level.  Span also makes a great, inexpensive gift for the book or nature lover on your list.

__________________________________________________________________________________
To buy Span now with Paypal, Click on image below.

     

Span | A Collection of Poems by David A. Martin
Paperback, 144 pages.

$9.95 + tax and shipping.
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New Poem of the Week; an American haiku

The new Poem of the Week is an “american” haiku. American haiku usually follows (but sometimes strays from) the 5-7-5 syllabic line break “rules”, but often has no seasonal reference word (kigo) and is, more likely than not, missing a kireji which is a “cutting word” or “turning word” which gives traditional haiku that double-exposure quality.  Although the poem below does fall into this genre, I believe that it does, in fact, embody a metaphorical “fourth line” generating quality.

The dog, half-asleep,

. . . [More]

 
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This poem is from my recently begun, new notebook, having submitted worthy and well-worked poetry from the other filled and falling apart notebooks in manuscript form. If you like this poem check out my other Selected New Poems on my blog or consider the eBook or paperback purchase of my book, span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which is a collection of Human Ecology poems from 2000-2010.

Human ecology is the subdiscipline of ecology that focuses on the human niche. Broadly speaking, it is a study of the relationship between humans and their natural, social, and built environments: anthropogenic biomes called anthromes within which are habitats connected by road networks to create what has been called technoecosystems.  Human Ecology has a wide territory and manifesting in geography, sociology, psychology, anthropology, zoology, and natural ecology. It is my hope that my poetics can be seen to have contributed to this spectrum by adding literature, biography and ontology to this list.

New Poem of the Week speaks to Human potential

final frontier

the mountain isn’t going to come to you,
you have to go to the mountain

is the epiphany i am having
just before he quietly breaks the silence

without turning to me he says,
“That’s the final frontier.”

we are gazing outward from our planet
through the starry skies of our short arm
of the Milky Way Galaxy

. . . [More]

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This poem is from my notebook “the nameless way woven with crooked genius.”  If you like this poem, please copy the link or the short link and share it with others on Facebook, Twitter or whatever social networking spaces you frequent.

If you would like, check out my other Selected New Poems on my blog or consider the eBook or paperback purchase of my book, span (Rhizome Publishing 2011, 2012) which is a collection of Human Ecology poems from 2000-2010. Thank you for enjoying my work.