It's My Turn! (so, the email said :))

I'm so thrilled and honoured to be featured on the cover of the Aug/Sept 2014 issue of Sibyl Magazine that was released early this morning!  What a surprise and honour when I received an email from Sibyl English about the cover, and "It's Your Turn" in the comments box.  It was the same day they previewed the cover to the featured writers, along with a message of some great changes they've made to the magazine, including merging Sibella Poetry Magazine into Sibyl Magazine (the flagship publication that was released 5 years prior to Sibella).  I am honoured that my poems have been featured in Sibella Poetry Magazine for the last 3 years, and now in the newly merged Sibyl Magazine (an on-line publication with over 24,000 subscribers internationally).  I have watched this publication grow and get better and better, and enjoy reading the articles and poems in each and every issue - cover to cover.  Thanks you Sibyl for your continued love and support.  I cherish the work that you are doing and am eternally grateful for the platform you have given me to share my words.

Check out the new issue of Sibyl Magazine with my poem "SUN-SETS AND SUN-RISES" on page 6...along with photo credits to my sweetie Steve Di Monte of Change Your Life Photography....the "or better" of being featured on the cover of a magazine - having that photo shot by your sweetie <3

This poem reminds us that as life changes and has its ups and downs, a new day always dawns new possibilities - as it certainly has for me.  Enjoy!

River Dance

My second poem of the 2014 season published in the Winter (Feb/Mar2014) issue of Sibella Poetry Magazine...inspired by a creative writing exercise with my Georgetown Wordsmiths, focused on a water theme.  A few days before this exercise, I saw an image of the Earth's water ways, comparing it to the human brain and to a tree's root system.  Always from the heart, I thought of these images as the words poured out.  This one makes my heart dance <3

River Dance
© Linda J. Spencer

Like the arterial system of the human body
Earth’s rivers flow endless like veins across its surface,
Pulsing and breathing life into itself.

Rain falls down from the heavens
And fills the rivers of life,
To continue their journey through eternity.

Like the tears we shed to release our pain
And cleanse our souls,
Rain is Mother Nature’s cleansing of the Earth.

And in the rain we dance,
Letting Mother Nature’s tears fall upon us -
Kissing our face, releasing our fears and sorrows.

As we dance along these rivers,
Our hearts pulse, filled with life;
Our bodies flow and our minds let go of control.

In this dance, we are witness to Earth’s miracles
And fall in love with Nature’s gifts -
The endless flow of life.

As we still our minds and feel with our hearts,
Through this dance we see the truth -
That we are one with all that is.

It is here, as we dance,
That we discover our own journey is endless –
Flowing freely to the end of time.



Our lives are like the rivers of the earth - ever flowing, ever changing - the journey is truly endless and is ours to enjoy fully in the moment.  Love and blessings <3

Let it Flow

How many times do we question ourselves - question our abilities, our strengths, our beauty, our thoughts and feelings, our decisions?  We all do it...some more than others.  But what if we just let it all flow - without judging ourselves or our circumstance?  Instead, what if we danced with what presents, acknowledging ourselves and the situations, but moving forwarded anyway - letting it flow?

This poem what born of such questions to myself.  I would have all these thoughts pop in my head, but at a time when I wasn't sure if they were my own thoughts, or if I had adopted those of others.  Once I realized that I could own them if I wanted, or let them go if I wanted, I could stop any resistance and just let it all flow in complete neutrality...and what a grand feeling that is - to let it all flow; to let it all just be.

Hope you enjoy the read...you can find it in the Dec-Jan2014 issue of Sibella Poetry Magazine, where I'm contributing for the third year in a row :).   Click on the image of the magazine cover to enter a different kind of poetry world - a creative one of spirit, inspiration and insight :)


Let it Flow
(copyright 2013, Linda J. Spencer)

My body is alive and full of energy.
My mind is full, ready to explode
With all of its thoughts,
All of its grand creations.
But what if they're not my own?

What if they belong to another?
How can I possibly know?
My mind is overflowing
And now it cannot be contained.
Energy transcends.
I have set it free.
It is what will be.
Or is it?
Is it really free?
Only I can choose.
Only I can know.
If only I'd listen.
Can I do this?
If only I could still my mind
I could see what's real,
And the knots would come undone,
Anxiety and doubt would cease.
Or would it?
I can only try.

A Dance in the Night

Yeah!  The new issue of Sibella Poetry Magazine is out (click on the link, or go to http://clck.com/jmmg/spoetry/APRMAYSIB13.pdf), and in it is my poem "A Dance in the Night". 

Some colleagues and friends have asked me, "when do you find time to write?"  or, "when do you write?"  You may think that as a writer, I'd be writing all the time, or at least every chance I got, but I don't.  I find that my best writing occurs when the mood strikes me, or when I have a vision of what I should write about.  Sometimes I ask for inspiration, and sometimes it just comes out of the blue...or someone will say something or do something that strikes a cord and out flows a verse or two that I can work with.  It's very sporadic, but it works for me.  The finished product is always something I feel.  "A Dance in the Night" came as a vision as I was sitting at my desk, just days before the submission deadline, staring out my loft window into the trees below...they spoke to me.  Ok, they weren't pines, but they were tall.  And we don't have wolves, but we do have coyotes who wander by occassionally :)  I followed this poem up with a post on my Ridgeview blog about the vision I had for Ridgeview.  Check that out too when you get a chance.  Enjoy ♡

 

A Dance in the Night

(©Linda Spencer, 2013)

By the light of the moon, I dance.

The night is quiet and the air is calm;
There is peace.
I stop at the edge of the forest
Where the tall pines stand guard;
A low branch bows, inviting me to enter.

As I cross the threshold, a lone wolf howls,
Eerily piercing the night silence.
She crosses my path a distance ahead,
Glancing to acknowledge my presence
And I hers; we are friends -
Creatures of the same Maker.

She lets me pass to continue my dance

Watching me and I her, in awe.
And I listen for her words.
But they do not come, not this time.
I hear instead the stillness of the night -
The sound of water; the rustle and creek of the woods.

Their message is clear:
I may own this land, but it is not mine.
It found me, and entrusted me as its keeper –
To protect it, to nourish it, to help it grow.
In return, it cradles me, and gives me life;
And gives me space to dance and play within it.

“We have been given a world of creation to laugh and dance and play with – it only asks that we treat it as we would our soul.”~Linda Spencer