This morning I was running late and so was rushing to get a poem posted for #Mindfulness Mondays. (And yes, I do see the irony in that.)  I opened my copy of Poetry of Presence and turned to this week’s poem, prepared to quickly dash off something and then be on my way.  But as I read “Ancient Language” by Hannah Stephenson, I was captivated by her words and the images of the trees talking to her – and what they had to say. I could feel myself slowing down.

Then I went to get a picture to accompany this post. I knew immediately which one I wanted to use. I searched through the ones I had taken years ago in the woods near our cabin. I remembered how the sunlight streamed through the trees and how I took picture after picture trying to capture the beauty of the moment.  As I look at this photograph, and as I write these words, much of the peace of that day comes back to me.

I hope in sharing these opening words* from “Ancient Language” and this picture that you too can find a way to catch your breath.

Ancient Language

— Hannah Stephenson

If you stand at the edge of the forest
and stare into it
every tree at the edge will blow a little extra
oxygen toward you.

 

* We contract with the poets and their publishers for the rights to publish their poems in our books. We don’t always have permission to reprint poems online (which is fair as this is the poet’s creation and they should be able to control how their poems are used and be compensated for their use). But even if we don’t have permission to publish the entire poem,  we are allowed to post a few lines.

So here is the first stanza of “Ancient Language” to give you a sense of the poem and hopefully a bit of the “breath” that the poem and trees have to offer.  Please visit Hannah Stephenson’s website for more about her and her poetry.

Poetry of Presence-book-cover-beautiful-egret-photo by David Moynahan.For the full version of “Ancient Language” and for the many poems we will be posting throughout the year, we encourage you to purchase Poetry of Presence. Poetry of Presence is also available through the Grayson Books, Barnes & Noble  and Amazon.Teaching-with-Heart-book-cover

The other poems for #Mindfulness Mondays will come from for Teaching with Heart. Teaching with Heart is also available through Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound and Amazon.

 

#Mindfulness Mondays

We hope you’ll join us each week for #Mindfulness Mondays. (I’ll try to post earlier in the day!) Each Monday, I will post all or part of a poem here and on our Facebook page.

We’d love to hear from you. Please post a word, a phrase, a short thought here in the blog’s comment section or on Facebook.  Share the poem or invite a friend or fellow teacher to join us on #Mindfulness Mondays.