Tag Archives: Terri Jean

Small Stone for Jan. 22, 2015

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Jan 22 2015

…dressing up is done whether in imminent danger in an oncoming battle or a sickness or injury at times of peace.” – Wooden Leg, Cheyenne Warrior and Tribal Judge 1858-1940

 

While death is something we seldom joke about, my thoughts are not so dark today, and I was struck by a rather fanciful notion of warding it off. I’ve riffed on the idea of an apple a day helping to keep us healthy.

 

It occurs to me to wonder:
if I take care never to dress up,
might I substitute pajamas for the apple apple fruit

that keeps the doctor safely in his place,
not needing to visit me? Would sloppy
unkempt appearance mean long life?

Or should I always greet the day
in my best dress, makeup carefully done
just in case it is time to leave? lipstick lips makeup

CAS Jan. 22, 2015

Small Stone for Jan. 21, 2015

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Jan 21

…Make me strong not to be superior to my brother, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy: Myself.””—from a quote by Chief Dan George, Coastal Salish, 1899-1981

Winter the last three years at least has been difficult for me, whether through Seasonal Affective Disorder, depression, or just the intense focus I have somehow developed around my health and the aging process. It may be a form of PTSD, since a traumatic brush with death in 2008. I don’t know. Lately I have been taking a more proactive role to try to break the cycle of downward spiral thinking.

depression

Not OMMM, nor phrases in foreign tongues,
my mantra a simple prayer for health of mind,
a way out of the spiral, a walk into white light.

depression cyclone iceland Not the white light of near-death, but of mindfulness,
optimism and contentment. If happiness comes
it will be welcome too. So I must write

on the good days and the bad, look up
to the good in life, and not down into
the dark face of depression.

CAS Jan 21 2015

Small Stone for Jan. 19, 2015

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Jan 19

 

“… All we wanted was peace and to be left alone…I was not allowed to remain quiet. I was tired of fighting. I have spoken.” — Crazy Horse, Oglala Sioux, on his deathbed, 1877

For days now I’ve longed for quiet
in my brain, peace and serenity,
to look out my window to still waters
far from rapids racing over stone.

cropped-100_0105.jpgBut the blood still pounds in my head,
thoughts racing forward into darkness
always facing future, when instead
there is today, its hours wasted thinking

about those things that never happen,
and the ones where time is not yet right
Those are the hours to be savoured, to focus
on the glint of sun, the beauty in a single snowflake.

CAS Jan. 19, 2015

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

Small Stone for Jan. 18, 2015

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Jan 18

“We will bury the tomahawk in the earth.” — Sauk adage meant as a pledge of peace.

File:Tomakawk.jpg

We once feared the blow of tomahawk
Today our fear has grown. Now we fear
bullets, bombs, plague, virus.

Worst of all we fear those whose beliefs
and culture are not the same. It is not
a new fear, but one that centuries

have failed to quell. Today we raise
more fearsome weapons against neighbours,
the modern tomahawks are not yet buried in the earth.

CAS Jan. 18, 2015

 

Photos of the tomahawk and nuclear bomb posted by U.S. government employees and therefore are in the public domain. Photos obtained from wikipedia.