Summer/ Winter Sale at Smashwords.com! (It’s winter down under.)
Now is a great time to check out my new book, Letting Go and New Beginnings: A Mother’s Poetic Journey, about healing relationships.
50% off until the end of July!
Just enter coupon code SSW50 at checkout. Thanks for your support!
More natural disasters have come since the huge earthquake in Japan, so this poem could also apply, for example, to those in Joplin, Missouri, who suffered a huge tornado last week that wiped out most of their city (50,000 people), winds over 200 mph and many dead, wounded, or missing. Their Medical Center looks like a bomb hit it. So this poem below is for them too. On this Memorial weekend of remembering soldiers (and their families) who sacrificed, let us remember all the lost. And do what we can. We are all connected.
4/14/11
post-earthquake
Now is the time to help
those who have been forgotten
whose earth swallowed
their homes and
whose sea washed their bodies away
And now who are off the front page
out of public consciousness
reduced to silence except for
radiation upgrades and occasional aftershocks
and back page human interest
Yet starving in masses, scanning rubble
that had been neighborhoods for anything familiar
Painful to imagine
But the stories, if any, buried where
few might read and be moved to action
Now is the time to help
put out a hand, a prayer, a dollar, a kindness
Anything…
Everything matters
to those who have nothing
Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2011
Expressing the essence of being a mother, a line often comes to mind from my poem, “After You Left” in Letting Go and New Beginnings (For entire poem see post 37 on 3-29-11 )
“Constantly
I am watching out for you.
Even when I am not watching,
I am watching.”
“Even when I am not watching, I am watching…” Even when I need my own life, I gather my “chicks” now grown, under my wing. I can’t help it. Even if I struggle for balance and need to take better care of myself, if they need me, I want to be there for them.
What is the most important thing we want to teach our children? How do we free them to go out and live their lives fully? How do we transition to a more adult level relationship with our offspring, the foundation for the rest of our lives? How clearly can our children ever see us as real people?
Here is another poem about being a mother.
1/19/03
From birth
letting go
and letting go,
letting go.
If I have taught you anything
let it be this:
kindness.
Striving, yes
but be generous.
I let you go
and heal from the wound
and then you return
as promised
and gradually I adjust
and trust.
Then you leave
as I know you must
and I am filled with longing and sadness.
Letting go,
letting go
the greatest gift,
not to hold and define and smother,
but to see you writ large
by your own hand.
And I am always
your mother,
not a strange mythological creature
who tames dragons and rides unicorns,
but a woman
of flesh and bone.
Not frozen artistic perfection,
a marble statue unchanging, beautiful,
but a work in progress,
the same as you.
Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2003
From Letting Go and New Beginnings: A Mother’s Poetic Journey
As I wrote before, my mother-in-law, Rae, died in March. It felt very strange this first Mother’s Day without her. I kept thinking to remind my husband to call. It looked like my Mom might also be wrapping up her life, but she is strong in so many ways and she rallied. On Mondays after my voice lesson I call her. We both consciously treasure our wide-ranging conversations—for however long we have. (I sent her tulips.) Two recent poems about her.
2/14/11
Even close to the end,
eyesight failing,
words dropping out of her repertoire,
she looked to the west
over the building tops
from her apartment balcony
appreciating, savoring,
thoroughly enjoying a magnificent sunset,
full of vivid description
of the flaming band of clouds
that spanned the horizon,
filled with the grace of it, the joy.
And even a day later
would see it still in her mind’s eye
and tell her poet daughter
400 miles away, who could then
see it also…and enjoy…and write….
Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2011
2/17/11
At some point
often a phone call in the night
and someone you love
is gone. Right now
all I’m saying
is the beginning of the end.
And if I cling to the notion,
the belief, that life is eternal,
still I am aware
it ends in this form
and there will be…soon…
one last hug, one last conversation.
As much as I try
not to think about it,
to be in the moment
where you still are,
still I cry softly
when I consider
you not being here.
Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2011
During much of this month (until April 23) the planet Mercury has appeared to be going backwards in the sky (an optical illusion). According to astrologers this is called a period of Mercury Retrograde, when life may seem less smooth, specifically with disruptions in communications. Generally not the best time to sign a major contract or buy a house, for example.
Whether you believe this Mercury retrograde business or not, there does seem to be a time of “shake-up” around that time, and people don’t like it. In a workshop I took years ago, the teacher said this was a time to do things that begin with “re”: Reflect, restore, rejuvenate, replenish, review, rest, relax, redo, renovate, etc. You get the idea. A time to look back, clear out and begin life fresh again. So I do not dread these times, when my computer or internet seems more likely to be off kilter, I try to take care of myself and clear off my desk (an ongoing challenge) and not take it personally. A great time to get a massage, take a walk, breathe deeply, do yoga, re-connect with old friends…
Here is a poem I began while getting a massage with Brigitte, thinking about restoration of body, mind, emotions and spirit.
Note: Khofu was a pharaoh in ancient Egypt. In 1954 a ship (solar barge) was discovered buried at the base of the great pyramid of Giza. The ship is held together by a sophisticated system of ropes stitched through holes in the planks.
4/6/11
During Retrograde
After Brigitte
From Jell-O or pudding
reconstitute a human
build muscle in lattice of bone
use ligament and tendon
to lash the boat together
like the great ship of Khofu
that lasted four thousand years and counting
Remake organs from blueprints
found in memories’ closet
that box on the top shelf never opened
but now essential
for restoration, renovation, revolution
The eyes of innocence, not naïve or wary
but open to beauty
The ears, the tongue fresh from the factory
brain, heart, programmed for compassion
Blood courses through the map
of newly laid arteries and veins
The pump begins again
Nerves reflexively control all motion
all manner of sensation
Cleansed of barnacles of tension
washed free of grime and lampblack
covering innate light
All in all, all is well
considering…
Margaret Dubay Mikus
© 2011
Happy Birthday, Alex!!
By Pramod Uday
Spiritual being, teacher and speaker from India
https://pramod.podomatic.com
Let me begin by telling you that I really love the title. On many occasions, when I was upset or worried, just looking at this book sitting neatly on my reading table brought me just enough relief to “point me downstream”. I feel Margaret heals more through this work than any other anthology.
Writing in her open, sensitive and yet detached vein as always, the poet impresses on the reader the need to get unstuck and flow with life. What one cannot but marvel at is how her poems create both the impression of having flowed smoothly through a wide conduit of inspiration and yet seem to have been subjected to the meticulous chisel of a finicky craftsmen. One can sense this palpable tension of sorts quite clearly, for example, in the piece entitled To Dance is To Be, where you find a very dynamic and lively snapshot of gracious dance movements. Let me be clear here – this conflict only adds to the merit of the poems as it provides another glimpse into Margaret’s loving care for words.
The poems address a wide variety of topics ranging from healing to allowing, filial love to finding your purpose and much more.
I highly recommend this book. However, if you want to completely relish the sweetness of Margaret’s poetry, I really think you should listen to them in her own voice as found on the CD Full Blooming, which is a reading of selected poems from the book. The enchanting quality of Margaret’s voice is so full of that rare elusive quality, what one might dub muliebrity. Margaret’s poetry itself is autobiographical. But when you listen to them in her own voice, the full sincerity and warmth of her words easily seep into the cockles of your heart. Suffice it to say that listening to this CD is like a deep relaxing session of meditation. You will find that your fatigue and stress has been removed and that your soul has been nourished and replenished from within.
Thank you, Pramod, for your generosity and thoughtful reviews. I am most grateful!
Check out As Easy as Breathing and Full Blooming CD to see for yourself.
