~The River of Stones~

 January ’12 mindful writing challenge:

1. Notice something properly every day during January.

2. Write it down.

Click this for more information and to visit the home of WOWH

~Handful of my stones~

Jan. 1st

~haiku~

Graphite to paper

Line upon line, you sketch life

Into existence.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 2nd

~FIRST LIGHT~

Headlights slip past trees,

early morning travelers

as fireflys in field

busy about their day.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 3rd

~EARLY~

Too early to rise

Fine strands lie

Golden filament

Tresses of sun

Downy covering

Across your forehead.

Sweet,

My babe.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 4th

~GOOD MEASURE~

Flight finds

Time to ruffle

Rich feathers,

Light edges each

Sifting day and dark

Till night spills over,

Settle to perch.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 5th

~MOURNING~

Heated fire,

Coal protests

Voiced through

Crystalline creak;

Crisp as breaking glass.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 6th

~OF COVERINGS~

Crisp bite,

Winter quiet.

Vacant nest wears

Thin blanket,

Pristine snow.

Spring hope

Bringer of

Pink calico quilt.

Petals on wind.

Flood of floral scent

Inundates,

Softly consumes.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 7th

~IN THE WORKS~

Peering beyond layers,

Branches piled thick

With fresh snow…

Perpetually-pink sky,

Being recreated by

Melon-ripe orange,

Cloud-soft and supple;

Teir, upon teir,

Happy cumulus.

My mind automatically

Edits out all that is man-made:

Telephone wires, laundry line,

Tall, tired street-light dimming to day,

Ruddy-red brick building…

Until all that is left is me

And an intricate weave

Cool-down covered limbs

And the delicious tincture

Of eye-pleasing pink.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 8th

~PATIENCE~

Birds are beginning

Scurry and feast

As we rise

Going forward;

Day making.

Baby enjoys

Mama milk first,

Lingering in bed

Before bursting forth.

Coffee for me,

Cereal for the five-er,

Banana for the baby,

Wood into the stove,

Dogs out to yard.

Then the moment my

Very soul hungers for,

Time-stopping, delicous.

In anticipation

I ponder what

Words may find me;

Magical and speechless.

The baby is whining,

Five-er wants help

Building cardboard tower

And I hear you rising.

Guess I better get up

Get you a coffee, too.

Words later, I suppose…

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 9th

~HIDDEN SOUNDTRACK~

Inherently

Songbird sings

Knows in her soul distinctly,

Unmistakable melody

Hidden in all of nature.

She shares her secrets:

“Don’t try with your mind

To understand it, to hear it.

Just listen.

Allow your heart

To decipher, to respond.”

As songbird, oh, soul…

Sing freely,

Song of my heart.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 10th

~PERCEPTION~

Prescribed

Softly by my soul,

Ascribed

Gently on my heart.

Quiet word,

O’ nature

Speaking through spider;

Silently sipping

Water pooled

On a cool beige-

Bathroom tile.

“I’m not much different,”

My soul suggests.

Mystery…

O’ water of life,

Drink and refresh.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 11th

~IN A CUP~

Velvet-soft,

Whiskered muzzle

Grazing meditatively.

Purposefully seeking

Greenest of grass.

Nutrient rich,

Sweet, aromatic goodness.

Her kind, brown eyes

Search the horizon.

Setting sun

Holds her story.

Barning down

For the night;

Hay and warmth,

Muted shuffle.

Midnight…

Speaks of peace.

And I sit here,

In this good chair

Cradling a warm,

Cobalt, ceramic mug;

Filled to frothy rim

With stove-top heated milk.

Imagining all and grateful

For the whole process;

Healing held in creamy softness.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 12th

~BRINGER OF LIGHT~

Even strong ones

Sometimes bend

When the weight

Becomes unbearable.

Majestic pine

Boughs droop

Under dense,

Brilliant snow.

Day will soon come.

Relief found

On rays of rising sun.

All things in perspective.

Heavy times

Taken to heart

Will make my

Branches stronger.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 13th

~AFTER SNOW~

It’s somber and still,

Slate shade of gray.

An impressive contrast:

Barren, yellow branches

Dramatic weeping-willow

Sweeps the silent sky.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 14th

~OF HEARTS AND NESTS~

Limb and timber,

Winter leaves you bare.

I see your nest

each hay-sheath

And splinter.

Cold and empy,

No life you hold.

Past, Spring of future

Unfold your stories.

Bursting of foliage

Beating of this tree,

A revealed secret.

I know where

Your heart is now.

Just as with mine

It is always seen by You.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 15th

~FINDINGS~

Ancient parchment

Flag of birch bark

Brought to life;

Breath-taking breeze.

Freeze of Winter

Written in icy layers.

Field finds itself

Shining, transformed.

Plain appears as a pond,

Still, watery surface

Reflecting sunset,

Scrolling, shadow of trees.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 16th

~I LOVE~

The way you rumple

Your eye-lashes

Methodically

With your tiny,

Plump pointer-finger.

Drinking deeply

Rich nutrients,

Soothing hormones.

Each breath and gulp

Equally nourishing

To my soul.

Releasing oneself,

Relinquishing wakefulness;

Suckled into baby dreamland.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 17th

~ON SET~

Morning script

Written in black

And burst of white.

Fresh snow spells

Crisp contrast,

Layers of foliage

Found in the effect.

Night brings rain.

Reflecting light,

Limbs dripping silver.

Dark curtain closes

Cloud covering moon,

Stage set for dreamscape.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 18th

~OF WHISPERING~

Silence is obsolete,

My day making a mockery

Of said, “peace.”

One wishing for sacred

Space, just my own.

Life is molding a

Marionette out of me.

I hear the hungry whisper

Calling me into sanctuary,

Beckoning me to believe;

It is good, all is good.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 19th

~AS IT HAPPENS~

Air is cool on waking,

Crackle of wood burning.

Whir of ceiling fan,

Dog licking her forearm.

Sudden squeal, boys…

Wooden blocks hit wood floor.

Rich whiff of nutty coffee.

Clean smells linger too,

Hands still damp from dishes,

Luandry folded waiting.

Low rumble, truck enroute,

Glow still low on horizon.

Windows are steamed.

Emotions fill,

Dawning on news

A friend’s illness

Fresh on my heart.

Whispered prayer.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 20th

~SIMPLE LESSONS~

I see you learning,

Churning mind;

Under the dining table,

In your choo-choo jammas.

You found a cloth,

Dilligently you try

To remove a spot of sun

That found its way

To light brightly

Upon wooden floor.

Quietly you stare

Pondering its brightness;

Following mystifying dust motes.

And you are so there

In this present moment;

Reflecting…

Upon a reflection.

Silently observing

Swiftly learning,

All there is to know.

Sweet…

My son.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 21st

~CAPTURED~

Finding myself without pen

I pattern paisley poems;

Simply, invisibly

across expanse of mind.

Words written in

Swift, smokey plumes;

Rising skyward from chimneys.

Scribbled in pale pallor

Of snow snakes,

Tailing across pavement.

Pleasant paths

Iced, spliced to thoughts

Captured in crystal flakes,

Falling in a sideways drift.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 22nd

~BEING HUMAN~

Wishing to Copy/Paste

Nature into the poetic equation.

Past has pointedly

reminded me of mis-steps taken.

Sprained and black with bruise

Fissure now hidden deep within;

Invisibly imprinted tendons

Bones once less brittle

Bend not so easily now.

Kneeling never an issue

Ensues with radiating pain.

Promise to self to heed sudden

Cricks and clicks

In my humanly weak ankles;

Answer to winter aches, maybe.

Mistaken footfalls

Recalled as I breathe.

Little relief found

In lavendar,

aromatherapy heat pack.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 23rd

~TAKING SIDES~

Always bare branches

Against solemn gray sky.

Only, found this round

Couple of crows finding

Time to perch, peering

Each, at the other.

Trunk between the two.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 24th

~SORTING IT OUT~

Ocean spoken heart songs,

Blue tint held still

In Morning rolling fog.

Dreams of dabbling

Shoreside, skirting

Rising, deep water.

Ambling alongside

Managing to keep

My feet mostly dry.

Hungering to touch,

Taste what it has to offer.

Cautious and reserved

Never really emerged;

Haven’t really given it over,

My body to ebb and flow.

For having done so I’d be

Trusting in a much bigger plan.

Somehow I still struggle,

Relinquishing rights;

Giving myself over to tide.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 25th

~DEPENDABLE~

When words flee

I peer heaven-ward

Toward the violet sky.

Sun seldom skips a beat

Repeating never

The same exact sunset.

Always a subtle, sweet,

Visceral variation

In each sunrise.

A constancy I can depend upon

Even when words elude me.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 26th

~BEYOND ME~

Broad pine

Defines me;

Your ancient-ness.

Each dark

Lip and crevice;

Bark telling tales.

A past much deeper

Than my short days

Could ever relay.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 27th

~WRITE ME~

Day has devised

It’s own plan for me,

Spreading thin

T h o u g h t,

C r e a t i v i t y.

Still, I can hear

Soft spoken word

Stirring.

An underlying,

Invisible vibration

Surging

Through nature.

Quiet o’ mind

Silence society,

Release me

From your hold,

hinder me

No longer.

Poignant poem

Incripted

In the varied

Length of limb.

Described

In the very

Field of wild.

Write me

O’ poem.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 28th

~ON THIS SIDE OF THE GLOBE~

Some where in the world

Between awake and asleep

Setting sun woos crescent moon.

Momentarily,

Almost meeting (It seems),

As light departs from day.

Darkening of blue

Bright beneath liquid layers,

Clouds move swiftly in on night.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 29th

~OF SEPARATION~

One lone leaf

Has found itself

Untucked

From snow

And icy layers.

Caught up

It finds

Whirlwind fury

Round and round

In a secret,

Solitary wind.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 30th

~OF LOVE FOR LIVING~

And here it is returned.

It’s cycled round

To an inward gazing again.

A form of hazing,

Right of passage

Before pressing forth.

Purging of emotion

Learning, stretching, growing.

A personal passage,

Battle of sorts.

Mind making note

A stirring fear felt,

Mystery of not knowing

If my very world

Could be turned

Coldly upside down.

Those sicknesses that happen

To people, very much like me.

Dances with death

Pilfering me of reality.

How can I know

It won’t happen to me?

Languidly I wish

Wonder, ponder,

Could I laminate love

To my soul this time around?

Crystalize every fibrous particle

Sealed for all eternity.

Could I whisper it’s worth

And hold it into forever

Never to feel this fear again.

Defeated and replenished

Knowing that this invisible thing

That holds it all together

The inbetween between

Molecules, atoms

This indescribable, unnameable

Immeasurable, miraculous mystery;

The inseparable commonality in all,

Maybe, just maybe it is love.

Perhaps that is the glue

Holding it all together.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

Jan. 31st

~SHE WAITED~

As shifts changed,

Shadows lengthened,

Street-lights

Became illuminated,

While she wondered

Whether “it” would ever come.

She picked at fragments,

Green paint peeling;

Tattered by beams

Of scorching sunlight,

Rendering it useless.

She embodied that bench,

In her waiting,

Became just a space

For someone to inhabit.

Somehow she’d been mistaken

She’d been awaiting

A who, an “it,”

Some magical thing

Moon for mindedness

Abandoned plans

Soul callings

Cowering in corners

Waiting for faith

Believing “it”

Was supposed to be bigger.

Not realizing the person

Keeping her waiting,

Delaying her dreams,

Was none other than herself.

© Hannah Gosselin and Metaphors and Smiles, 2012.

This experience has been a notable journey, daily stepping into the creative realm, letting go and trusting that the words will be there. It has been both very comforting and invigorating.

Thank you so much Fiona, Kaspa and the other brilliant and shining, writers of this years “River of Stones.” It has been a memorable month. Metaphors and Smiles always!!