Student Writings from Courting the Divine '08
"Madhuri , I am so grateful for the Courting the Divine training. You
spoke to the subtle edges of my deepest yearnings, calling them into
full awareness. I feel revived, retrieved, and re-membered. Never
before were these sacred strands lifted up to a place where we could
see them and touch them together, in the way that you imbibed them with
so much luminosity. Simply, how nice to find a sister in you and your
plunges into what is truly living inside. I wanted to share with you
this poem...
For Madhuri
In the dark obsidian
of night
you are the torch and compass.
Though you come as some sort of
light drenching solace-
what startles most is how
the dark jewels of the soul
are becoming my friends.
For once, I do not have to
practice to get better,
do not have to fix what was
broken so long ago.
I have a long story to tell.
a tale of terror and ecstasy,
that I am coming to know
as the Wild Divine.
And her origin is in the pain
of neglect as much as it is in
the reckonings of Love
I have known.
I am from joy and solemnity.
I have known indescribable connections
and threadbare hollowness.
To get to the honey,
go through the swarm of bees,
knowing even the sting is
the nectar you seek.
Laura Wade Jester - Denver, Colorado
Hello Madhuri,
We put this poem together for you. Thank you for the incredible sampling of your dazzling indigenous journey.
All Love from
The participants of Courting the Divine. . . .
"When I Saw You"
A
collective poem in ripe acclaimation of the course: Courting the
Divine; with reverence for our Great Teacher, Madhuri Martin, Compiled
with honor by Robyn P. Thayer
When I saw You
Slowly awakening
helping the pale gray sky to open her majestic blue eyes
every tree stands
honoring silent observation awaiting its turn.
The first time I saw you
was in soft scampering footy jammies and the crinkling of your diaper;
big blue pools of eyes looking up
from the foot of the bed.
When I saw you I knew that all trees, and perhaps even me,
had been silvery Russian Olives this time or that,
and your sweet, musty scent was meant for the wind to carry back to me.
When I saw you shole worlds opened up
my eyelashes curtisied in girlish pleasure
as birds flew from my belly.
When I saw your buringin wisps of orane cloud,
I gasped quickening heart
You took my breath away
Breathing me back into you.
When I saw you, I saw my teacher
fresh from the ark cut long and wise with enough sweetness
seeping through the creaks and cobwebs
of the world as I experience it.
When I heard you, I built a nest in your canopy as the bird does
making you my home.
And then I laid my head in the crook ofyour branch and listened to the beat of your soul
the way a sleeping child nestles his parent
When I first saw you, you helped to light the way for me, out of the wilderness
articulating "It sn't a choice between freedom and non-freedom,
it's a choice between freedom and uncertainty."
When I saw you, I was inspired
to be more
to push harder
to take more irsks
and not be content with
my same old self.
I gasp when I see how radiant you are,
From your deepest blue ocean
To your most ditant twinkling star.
I cry in amazement when I see how patient you are,
Of smoke stacks, and toxic waste,
And of sticky, black tar.
I bow to you now in reverence and awe,
For every flower, for every drop of rain, for every wing,
For every tail, and for every furry paw.
When I saw you
I saw everything
-on God Fire.
Courting
the Divine has rippled through my life in so many ways, but mostly as a
reminder to court all that we love in our life as if it were an affair
of great importance, whether it be to our lover, family members,
business, ourselves...
In lightness and gratitude, Marjorie
"Madhuri,
The love story I like best is to Shankar, my son. I was standing
over the sink doing dishes, but mostly fretting about not having enough
and he looked at me from the computer and asked what it was like to be
a single mom. From some place other than that moment of not
having enough, I said,
"I
feel like the luckiest person to have had the opportunity for so many
years to build a relationship with you that is like none other in my
life, to laugh so hard with you that tears roll from my eyes and my
belly aches, to watch you grow from so small into the wonderful young
man that you are today, that is what it is like to be a single mom...
or any mom."
(not the answer he was looking for, in fact he thought it was really corny)
Below are a few of the short love poems written to Joe...
Cool breeze kept time with the cooing birds, I thought I heard you whisper "good morning"
as your lips moved lightly across my skin.
___________________________________________________________________
'closing time' jingled the old man on a bicycle through the park;
light fades to whispers of the lovers soft breath...good night.
___________________________________________________________________
A chance to be on butterfly wings
sound of purple, feel of your roar
quietly mingling between horizons.
___________________________________________________________________
attic dust settles where footsteps lightly tread
drawn down by my lover's words, laughter, exchange of breath.
Marjorie Vandyke, Denver, Colorado
Student Writings from Promising The Moon
Softer Petals
I need today the deepest warmest oldest embrace from the friends of a
million fold deep and ten thousand strong to enrapture my being and the
essence of old. To remind my softer petals that the sun is never too bright
to deepen my roots and the rain only turns the leaves a darker green and
when the soil is rich from being turned and turned again the stalks stand
tall and may bend in the wind but never break."
Ally Baker Denver, Colorado
Underwear
It
is interesting how we adorn ourselves in an effort to cover our
hiney! Brightly colored ones, ones with lace, Lycra, bows and
ribbon roses. How about the ones for men? Does your man
prefer boxers or briefs? Then there are your favorite ones; you
know the ones that don't ride up the very thing we are trying to keep
covered. Ahh...so we now come to the greatest invention ever
created in the underwear world, the Thong. Crazy how the front
side is bigger than the back; the side which is meant to be
covered. How do you fold your Thongs? In half? One side under
then the other, maybe your napkin folding class finally comes into use.
I bet you just fling them in your drawer devoted entirely to your
collection of these colorful little pieces of cloth. Better keep
that underwear drawer closed because for some reason animals such as
your pet cat or dog seem to love to get in and pull these dainty
panties out doing who know what with them and strategically placing
them somewhere so a friend you have invited over sees them. There
is an entire industry devoted to underwear, there is lingerie, athletic
underwear, thermal underwear, even underwear that can change the shape
of your body. Babies, children, teens, adults, old lady big,
baggy underwear. Underwear for all! Plain underwear, white,
beige, light pink with maybe a polka dot or two. Then you have
the dark ones, black, brown, navy blue, perhaps a leopard pattern
tossed in your drawer. But the ones I like are the brightly
colored, striped, paisley, floral with perhaps the band a contrasting
color. All this for a bottom that is meant to run free.
Tana Pittman - Denver, Colorado
My First Poem Ever:
Where did you go holy one after you left my body
Did you leave to explore other mountains
Or was it my soul checking out of that old motel in the dark
The back door was open and light seeps back in.
Christine says: when you leave I name you you're back
or is I that comes back?
The Most Annoying Little Brat, But I could I not love her
Toys sscattered, whinny voice
My first daffodil and crocus-picked
For me
"Me first, me first" she yells
and she is first-to eat the first cherry and chocolate ice cream
First to unwrap the presents, including her little brother's (she tells me he is too little to unwrap)
And first to say,
"Grandma I love you".
How could I not love that whirling, skirted 3 year old with cousin's shoes- 3 sizes too big.
And that smile that lights up the universe.
- Christine Hillhouse - Denver, Colorado
“This was an amazing course! Rich with incredible knowledge, connection, inspiration and love.
Baby Steps
I was formed by the shape of our apartment
and its big windows
giving on tall trees (whose name I don't know in english)
that smelled sweet after the rain,
the smell arising with fine transparent mist
and clouds lifting off the mountain in the distance
but not too far away.
The squeak of tramways turning around the square,
as in the evenings
people went home or out to the movies,
sounds of cars passing through the street below.
I am from that street below my windows
from that corner, with parks on both sides,
the cathedral's spires visible above downtown.
Later, the young girl dancing and singing loudly in a bright window across the
street,
and me, older, watching her being young and confident,
and I was so very old: all of my seventeen or eighteen,
looking at her exuberance with a sense of loss.
I was formed by the sounds of my city on a Sunday morning.
That strange, lazy quiet full of tension that
I'm still unable to name,
even after my love said he had felt it there too.
The sounds of the radio and other people's songs, the train,
the clinking of dishes
coming through the open windows.
I was formed by the shapes and sounds and smells
of that apartment
that was once, maybe still, home.
-Natasa Vivica - Denver, Colorado
