Inspiration 2012 by Drea Jensen
One small stone in a pond can create a ripple as large as the pond,
just like a small idea can grow into a masterpiece.
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Red Bird
By Mary Oliver

Red bird came all winter
Firing up the landscape
As nothing else could.

Of course I love the sparrows,
Those dun-colored darlings,
So hungry and so many.

I am a God-fearing feeder of birds,
I know he has many children,
Not all of them bold in spirit.

Still, for whatever reason-
Perhaps because the winter is so long
And the sky so black-blue,

Or perhaps because the heart narrows
As often as it opens-
I am grateful

That red bird comes all winter
Firing up the landscape
As nothing else can do.

Elizabeth Bishop Red Flowers on Black

One Art
BY ELIZABETH BISHOP

The art of losing isn’t hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother’s watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn’t hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn’t a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan’t have lied. It’s evident
the art of losing’s not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Imagination by Drea Jensen Art

Imagine
By Mary Oliver

I don’t care for adjectives, yet the world fills me with them.
And even beyond what I see, I imagine more.

Seeing, for example, with understanding,
or with acceptance and humility and
without understanding,
into the heart of the bristly, locked-in worm
just as it’s becoming what we call the luna,
that green tissue-winged, strange, graceful,
fluttering thing.

Will death allow such transportation of the eye?…

Well, we will all find out, each of us.
And what would we be, beyond the yardstick,
beyond supper and dollars,
if we were not filled with such wondering?

Muse of Fire 2011 By Drea Jensen
This painting represents the expression of inspiration and passion
that lives in us all.
http://dreajensengallery.artistwebsites.com/featured/muse-of-fire-2011-drea-jensen.html

Invitation
by Mary Oliver

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude—
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

Lotus 2012 by Drea Jensen
Perspective can change anything. Take one step to the left, and you will see things differently than if you took a step to the right.
http://dreajensengallery.artistwebsites.com/featured/lotus-2012-drea-jensen.html

Small Bodies

It is almost summer. In the pond
the pickerel leap,
and the delicate teal have brought forth
their many charming young,
and the turtle is ravenous.
It is hard sometimes, oh Lord,
to be faithful.
I am more boldly made
than the little ducks, paddling and laughing.
But not so bold
as the turtle
with his greasy mouth.
I know you know everything –
I rely on this.
Still, there are so many small bodies in the world,
for which I am afraid.

~ Mary Oliver

Night Herons

by Mary Oliver  

Garden 2012 by Drea Jensen
The most beautiful art can be found flourishing in nature…or your very own garden.
http://dreajensengallery.artistwebsites.com/featured/garden-2012-drea-jensen.html

Boundaries 

by Mary Oliver

There’s a place where the town ends,

and the fields begin.

It’s not marked but the feet know it,

also the heart that is longing for refreshment

and, equally, for repose.

Someday we’ll live in the sky.

Meanwhile, the house of our lives is this green world.

The fields, the ponds, the birds.

The thick black oaks – surely they are

the invention of something wonderful.

And the tiger lilies.

And the runaway honeysuckle that no one will ever trim again.

Where is it? I ask, and then

my feet know it.

One jump, and I’m home.