Poems for my 70th Birthday
Divine Mother Speaks to Me on My Birthday
a practice offered by Liz Gilbert
Good morning dear Divine Mother,
What would you have me know today
As I start this next year, my new decade?
Good morning dear Marcia,
Of course I’m so glad you were born, and born to be
A certain someone—this very specific one you are!
Keep going—you are just old enough now
to meet this next phase of your life. Now you are ready
to live and love in a new way—a deeper way, so
go forth and love.
Love all the people,
Love all the plants,
The insects, the birds,
The waters,
Love it all with your whole heart.
Be not embarrassed by any part of yourself—it’s all good and
just as it needs to be.
Even what you judge as weakness
or somehow wrong,
are just more
gifts to be unwrapped. Do so lovingly,
with great tenderness.
Keep going—parts will be glorious, parts will be hard, so hard.
Keep feeling the life beat of your heart
And all it loves.
Let that flow into the world around you.
You’ll always know what to do when you are connected to your heart.
Be grateful as you can, and cry often—you’re already good at that—
Keep allowing yourself to be touched deeply by
the beauty
and sorrow
and mystery of this world.
See that tiny bird hopping across the porch?
She, too, is just as precious to me as you!
And that takes nothing away from you.
This decade you are to know less—the unknowable
Is much more interesting than what you know,
Or think you know.
Touch the heart and enter the mystery—not trying to know it—
but let it remain vast and mysterious.
This pulsing in your heart, this fullness, is me!
I’m always here with you.
Yes, let those tears fall, that is good.
And so is the laughter at those baby bluejays competing for food.
So so loved, all of you!
A Few Things I Learned in my 69th Year
To live in a community of people I love and trust is necessary.
Telling the truth, especially when someone else would prefer I be silent, is POWER!
I do not have to work every day to matter…been learning this one for years.
I do have to work sometimes because I need to contribute in the ways I do. The work I do is makes me more alive!
How to cut a lime for maximum juice—from top to bottom to the side of the midline.
Parts of me really want to run the world (especially my family) even though other parts of me know this is a very bad idea. Also not a new learning, but it went much deeper this year.
Movement and vibration is life!
Meandering around the farm is one of my favorite meditations.
I learned how to support myself when I am pleasuring my husband. I am a restorative yoga teacher after all!
Hazelnut trees have miniscule red flowers in the early spring that look like tiny sea creatures.
I love watching the various migrating ducks that return to the pond in the spring.
A boa constructor’s babies are born inside her where they grow a bit more before coming out.
Oak trees can support the life cycle of at least 557 caterpillars. This is important if you love birds because it takes about 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars in a season just to raise one brood of five chickadees.
There are over 400 native bees in Ohio.
My husband still looks good to me.
All butterflies are moths but not all moths are butterflies.
I can’t walk on the beach as far as I want to and I’m afraid of the possibility of not being able to walk.
I’m capable of knitting half a blanket and then ripping it out because of a fatal mistake. I’m also capable of ignoring some knitting mistakes and letting them be part of the beauty.
My Kitchenaid grain grinder attachment was no match for the indigenous blue corn that Kevin grew last summer. The corn was unbelievably delicious and the Kitchenaid died. We also learned nixtamalization—how to cook the whole dried corn kernels with wood ashes to make masa.
I have forgotten big pieces of my life. I have no memory of some very traumatic times. I learned I can still be with these parts of myself and help them integrate. We are meant to heal.
I will never forget my friends and family who are no longer physically alive. They live here in my heart.
Healing comes in many different ways, and with lots of helpers.
I love the feeling of making peace with someone who I have been at war with.
I have many conditioned patterns I am not aware of. Becoming more aware of them is often shocking and very painful………recalculating……recalculating…..
There are more than 100 native bat species in Costa Rica.
The eyeballs of bees have hairs all over them to keep them free of pollen as they dive into flowers.
I learned that the full cycle of the moon is 18.6 years. Indigenous people here in Ohio knew that at least 2000 years ago.
And, I learned that I can write a poem if I want to.
