This year, Thanksgiving was a day to look beyond the challenges, interruptions, and distractions of our pandemic lives and focus on what mattered. It was a day filled with gratitude for faith, family, and friends but celebrated in an unfamiliar, new normal way. If you were like me, you had a delicious dinner with immediate members of your family, zoomed with grandchildren, and/or relatives, and spoke with others.
As an added touch, I resurrected a childhood tradition of walking after dinner cleanup time. We stepped outside; I was amazed by the deep jet black sky with a brilliant moon illuminating the street. Gratitude flowed. It was the start of a peaceful family walk. The weather was cooperative for an awe walk., being the most temperate of Thanksgiving nights in a decade. While walking, I recollected the following recent scene at the state park on the outskirts of my neighborhood. The photo taken shares the simple beauty of autumn in late November. With gratitude for nature's beauty I composed the following digital inspiration, image poem.
Even a short walk in the woods can produce a sense of awe when you learn to let go of stress and pay attention to small details. -How to Find Awe in Everyday Things by Sidney Stevens
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The Poetry Sisters offered an interesting challenging, #PoetryPals, for the end of November.
"The theme is hindsight — pick one of your old poems to revise and/or write a new poem in conversation with it."
With this in mind, I traveled back in time to last November and
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Give thanks for fall's seasonal gifts
coloring world
with love,
glee.
November comes
in peace.
See,
wonder, explore.
Find rest.
Be!
©CV, 2019
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For the challenge, I created a zeno poem that connects thoughts from 2019 to 2020 for my Abundant Autumn Gallery.
Give thanks for fall's abundancy
dispelling fears.
Seek
earthen beauty,
joyful
hope.
Thanksgiving comes
in peace.
Feel
inspired awe.
Center!
Be!
©CV, 2020
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I am grateful for autumn and an unusual Thanksgiving filled with nature inspired awe
to move us beyond the confinements of pandemic living.
Note:
I will be slowing going through Poetry Friday blogs this weekend since there are multiple scheduled viewings of my Long Island house. I am grateful for this and also very pleased that my Virginia home is completely built and ready for a December closing.
Like you, I bundled up and took the dogs for a long walk last night. I am not yet at the point of joy, and hope, and peace, but being outside seems to help!
ReplyDeleteBeing outside helps me so much, Carol. It often eases my troubled mind and that is good.
DeleteOh! A zeno poem! I really need to try one - thoughts is beautiful. Good luck with the house!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tanita, for your comment and for the challenge that you and your Poetry Sisters present. Thanks for the good luck thoughts on selling my house.
DeleteI like the idea of fall’s abundancy dispelling fears. Nature inspired awe can be very powerful in filling the soul.
ReplyDeleteThe first poem's 'See, wonder, explore' resonates with me - seeing past the pandemic to wonder at falls gifts and explore nature. Both poems are beautiful. Congrats on a completely built new home...best wishes with selling your current home.
ReplyDeleteThe power of nature across its seasons to evoke emotional responses resides in the words of these poems Carol. -'Nature inspired awe-indeed.The Sidney Stevens quote is a clincher for me. Love it!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your summer video poem, Alan, I can see why the Stevens quote resonates with you. Even the rain storm today allowed me brief moments of poetic peace.
DeleteBeautiful awe walk, Carol. We all have to keep our spirits ready for the good these days, don't we? Awe walks are just the ticket for that. I enjoy the simple beauty you find in local parks. I'll bet the founders of these places are just so pleased with your appreciation.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the reminder to keep our hearts open and receptive -- the awe-filled world is right there ready for our appreciation.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed joining you on your walk. You always inspire me to try to notice all the beauty around me, to observe and "be." Thank you, Carol.
ReplyDeleteI think of myself as abundantly inspired by nature, Carol, but every time I visit your blog or see your work on social media, your reverence and awe inspires me so much! I love how you adapted your zeno from before to include nature's increased role in dispelling fear. So true.
ReplyDeleteFocusing on the abundance in a year of great loss creates graditude. It's a way to keep our hearts open.
ReplyDeleteOh, Carol, your words and pictures soothe my soul. I love how you went back and adapted your zeno poem from last year. I'm working on a goal I set to write a poem a month (it is the last day of November) and contribute to SOS also. Prayers that your house will sell soon with the perfect family to love it as you have. And that all will happen soon so you can gleefully move to Virginia in the coming weeks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts and poems about Thanksgiving. I went for a walk while the turkey was cooking. It was a lovely fall day and I came home to the glorious warmth and delicious smells of Thanksgiving dinner. I really like your zeno poems--especially the one you wrote for this year. The lines "seek earthen beauty" especially resonate for me. Walking in nature has really helped me get through this crazy pandemic time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your beauty in nature's images and your poems Carol, that sky in your top photo is gorgeous! Good luck with your houses.
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