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HOW TO BLOOM

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I don’t happen to believe that people who are truly spiritual are even aware of their spirituality. And here I am writing a spiritual blog, stumbling from one lesson to the next, inviting you to come with me. But, I think that’s the point. In sharing our stories of imperfect stumbling and discovery, we are sharing the most vulnerable and important part of ourselves, and are exercising our spirituality.

So much of our spiritual lesson is loss, and dealing with it. We are bulbs stuck in the dark, yearning to see the light and open. But, when we finally blossom, the light is glaring, and we feel exposed, and maybe afraid. There are prettier blooms out there! We have left the safety of the dark soil behind.

That is loss. Life requires us to shed the things we can’t carry or that belong to someone else on our journey.

Sometimes, we’re presented with the necessity masquerading as an option, to shed people, or bad habits, or a way of coping with life that is fearful, critical, or foolish. I personally can fill in the blank with 100 different things that don’t get me anywhere spiritually or anywhere else. They’re stupid habits, that provide momentary comfort, that are ridiculously hard to drop! It’s even more difficult to opt out of certain relationships in the realization that you have changed beyond them and they just don’t want the new you—they want the old version. All of these things or circumstances are innocuous in and of themselves, but they can eat up other options, even a calling.

Sometimes, the lesson is more brutal, as someone who occupies a chamber of our very heart is ripped from our lives. How to make sense of the brutal pain? I’m watching someone I love go through this now. Why did it happen? No mortal can answer the question.

I don’t think God is doing something to us or taking the things we lean on to make us grow. I think we can’t help but grow, if we let the tears out and let them water us like rain, letting our hearts open to the sunlight that’s still there, and always has been. 

A SURPRISING REMEDY TO HELLSCAPE 2016

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background-1As Jon Oliver said recently, “ Look way up there in the sky. You see that? That’s rock bottom!”

Dear God, we need joy, laugher, beauty, and truth that cannot be tarnished or destroyed with “future revelations”. We need to stop for just a moment and agree on the myriad of things we actually agree on. We need to channel the intense emotions and angst we justifiably feel in this year that is nothing put a parade of horribles into something that isn’t tearing ourselves or others down. We need to see and be inspired by beauty, humor, and truth and let it heal us and change us and let it be enough. Because it has to be. Because that is the only remedy, the only antidote to this war of words.

We have seen how words can divide, destroy, corrode, and manufacture fear, anger, and despair. We have watched the experts at spin and distortion, and had to take note of their power. What we write, what we speak, has the power to damn us or save us. Fewer and fewer people read for enjoyment, as if it is pointless, but that precisely is the point. We need to see truth and beauty somewhere, so we remember what it looks like.

  1. Writers and other artists, tell the truth. We have no choice. Special interests and money can’t corrupt most of us, because we have nothing to do with either. We reflect the truth of what is going on in our times. It may be our own personal truth, but it is authentic truth, all the same. It is an effective counter-balance to the land of lies that has become our political landscape. It grounds us to reality without shouting in our faces. It stands on its own, and really can’t be tilted or spun.

I am frequently asked why I write in the same tone of voice as someone would ask, “ Hey! Why are you strolling naked down the street?” The implication is, of course, the odds against monetary success are so low, why bother? The answer to me is, the times we live in require it. I have to do it and can’t back away from it.

2) Beautiful writing, like any thing of beauty, restores our faith in the universe, if only for a little while. It’s like a little meditation on hope.

Words are powerful, as are joy, beauty and hope, inspiration and finally, perspective, and words can create all of these good things. There is already enough invective, finger pointing, and anger. Almost everyone has had enough of it and is looking for the opposite, an oasis.

3) Writers can reflect the times in a non horrifying way, through crafting a work that is beautiful in its own right, shifting the focus from what is hopeless to what is possible, even if just for today. And that matters.

4) We will remind you of our shared humanity and the very good things about it. We will make you laugh and make you cry about something other than the state of our country. We will create something beautiful that cannot be destroyed in the next new cycle. Things that will endure no matter what happens on November 8th.

 

 

So, keep writing, even if it’s in a journal. That’s where many a poem, a novel, an opus began. Keep reading— we all need you.

I’m going to keep doing both. I’m going to keep trying to ignite the sparks that alight the beauty, sacredness, and commonality of our daily lives, and celebrate the beauty of our humanity.

L.E. Kinzie lives in Austin, Texas, with a ridiculous and ever-changing menagerie of pets and her family. A recovering ex-lawyer, she is a passionate observer of humanity and the common threads that bind us all together—beauty, creation, and creating art.

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https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s?k=poetry+books+L+E+Kinzie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“THE FIRST THING WE DO, LET’S KILL ALL THE POETS!”

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Shakespeare 5 REASONS WHY WE CAN’T.

1) There was an article in the New York Times very recently that was actually about the status of poetry in an age of prose. It was basically good news.

But, along with prose, we also live in an age of talking points and fake news, fake investigations, and reality shows that aren’t real. Personal offense and outrage often completely replace reasonable discussion and debate. Poetry is one of the last vestiges of un- sanitized and articulate language.

 

 

2) It follows that poetry is the language of the truth- teller. You shall know the truth and it shall set you free, but only if someone tells it. People complain about the ridiculously unintelligible poems that have been foisted upon us as simply too high- brow for mere mortals to understand. Some of them are hilariously indecipherable. But, metaphors are a delivery system for conveying the often brutal and ugly truth. The whole world is mourning Maya Angelou for a greater reason than she wrote pretty poems. She had supremely important things to say and did so perfectly. She made us understand and care.

 

ranchonedaisy3) Poetry is the language of protest and rebellion. Pick practically any of Bob Dylan’s songs and you will find a blend of protest and prophesy. There are too many to name, but “ Hurricane”, “ Desolation Row”, “ Like a Rolling Stone” and “ The Times They are a Changing”, come to mind. I am not a rabid Dylan fan, but how could “Tangled up in Blue” be anything but pure poetry?

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It follows that a song is a poem that happens to rhyme. Lyrics are a delivery system for protest and rebellion that makes them not only palatable but beautiful. I don’t mean to insult all of the Pulitzer Prize winners and poet laureates out there, but some of this brand of poetry is amazingly poignant. There is a song by Lily Allen called “ The Fear” that is so richly and sadly satirical it will leave you breathless, particularly the second verse..

 

4) There is a language deep in the soul that cannot be conveyed with perfect grammar, sentence structure and sanitized language, and poets are fluent in and understand soul-speak. With the exception of the “Begats”, poetry is also the language of the Bible. Whether one believes in the literal truth of the words contained in its covers or not, the cadence and beauty of them can be inspirational in and of itself. The Psalms, The Song of Solomon and Proverbs are pure poetry. But, so is the rest of it. Isaiah is replete with gorgeous poetry. Case in point:

 

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed,

but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my

covenant of peace shall not be removed…O afflicted one,

storm- tossed and not comforted, behold, I will…lay your

foundations with sapphires. (Isaiah 54:10)

 

5) Ever been to a Poetry Slam?

Poets are warriors, wearing their hearts on their sleeves and doing battle to defend them.

They are necessary insurgents, becoming catalysts for reform, change, honesty and transformation.

They are conduits to spiritual healing, growth and transformation, speaking and interpreting soul and spirit- speak. This is the very infrastructure of humanity and progress- not fluff.

We are everywhere; not just on some remote Isle of Tweed and Berets, or hanging out at Starbucks. We might even be your neighbors, you never knowJ

We are society’s detoxifiers, like a great big cleansing and centering breath.

 

 

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