The glistening torii gate framed the lush sanctuary like a vermilion sentinel. Dawn’s silver silence was fractured by stuttering footsteps on rough slate. A cinnabar leaf clung to the stone lantern drawing the eye upward. Across the koi pond joyful sunbeams ignited the recently transplanted laceleaf maples. Crimson radiance dripped onto the mossy rocks like …
Category Archives: nature
My Poem Was Just Published
My poem Seaside Gallery was recently published in the Poetry Quarterly. I was honored to have my poem be the first poem in the magazine. It feels great to be published again. My writing is often inspired by nature. Check out the Poetry Quarterly website and buy a copy, or several :-). The editor is …
The Sweetness of Patience
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. – Ralph Waldo Emerson The pace of life can be overwhelming at times. We live in an era when time is marked down in nanoseconds (billionths of a second). In the past I taught teachers about GPS, and I was often asked – how fast is …
Poem: Blue Moon Rising
Pulsating sinuous strands Spread along sandy flesh Like a lover’s luxuriant tresses across a pillow The approaching lantern of fertility Brightens the aching heart Drains away negativity Positive tingles prickle the spine Musky incense tantalizes the tongue Face into the wind and listen The blue moon’s siren call Echoes throughout the briny deep Silky steps …
What is Enough?
I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough? – Vincent Van Gogh We live in a time of great material abundance. But the haves and the have nots stand on opposite sides of a deep chasm of inequality. Many people focus on the holes in their lives …
The Oneness of It All
All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything. – Swami Vivekananda In Eastern thought, One has the dual meaning of number or quality. The modern concept of mindfulness flows out of the spiritual traditions from both East and West. Mindfulness emphasizes the non-separation of …
Poetry: Touch of The Wild
A touch of the wild resides with us all Our soul-songs resonate with nature’s call Instincts stirred by nameless scent trails drifting in the wind Rise from ancient gray-green mind-mud Nostrils flare and pulse quickens The net of consciousness far cast into the wild landscape Subconscious skills engage gathered sensory echoes Body hairs bristle at …
The Seed of Self
Nature always wears the color of the spirit. – Ralph Waldo Emerson The world abounds in waves of loving energy, one only needs to open the heart to receive it. Each of us has the capacity to discover the spiritual wealth of the universe. We only have to re-learn how to be natural. The word …
Soft Fascinations
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. – John Muir Modern life is filled with a myriad of technological connections. Look around your place at night, how many different colors of light do you see from various plugged-in mechanisms? Directly in front of me as I write, the …
Reading the Sky
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. – Kierkegaard The past couple of weeks the area around my apartment has been claimed by a rather large crow. The bird acts as a sentinel against the neighbors’ awful free-ranging cats. It caws furiously at the cats. If you let your cat …
C.E.Wheeler 
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