A verse a daykeeps the doctor at playwith patients who sufferPlay Deficit Disorder.Poems provoke reflectionAnd ward off infectionby the day’s newsand evening blues.No known negative side effects. Trish Passmore Ally, Greensboro This poem was written for the Verse-Village celebration of April Poetry Month.
Trish Alley
Leading together
SHELBURNE – The day before Thanksgiving last year, the new executive director of the Vermont Council on Rural Development (VCRD), Denise Smith, came for a visit. After talking for two hours, we wondered how we had not met before. We imagined convening Vermont women nonprofit executive directors in a way[Read More…]
Savoring seventy-five
SHELBURNE – In this season of giving thanks, I am grateful for the actual and aspiring Wrinkled Radicals I know. Some of you shared my October blog with staff, family and friends. I can visualize us all sitting around a Thanksgiving table practicing radical Grace, each with a food-insecure guest. [Read More…]
Wrinkled radical
SHELBURNE – I recently read Senator Ron Wyden’s memoir, “It Takes Chutzpah.” Ron was fresh out of the University of Oregon School of Law in 1974 when Ruth Haefner, a retired social worker in Portland, asked him to help her co-found an Oregon branch of the Grey Panthers. Ruth’s friend,[Read More…]
Blessings In Backpacks
SHELBURNE – The Sunday before school started, the Greensboro United Church of Christ service was longer than usual as pre-K through grad school students were invited to come forward with their backpacks. Ed, our pastor, placed his hand over his heart and then put his hand with love and blessings[Read More…]
Positive Possibilities
SHELBURNE – “The unknown is where all outcomes are possible; enter it with grace.” That was the wisdom on my Yogi tea bag this morning. I sipped and sat with Grace as I welcomed the positive possibilities of the day. A few I could name. Most would be a surprise.[Read More…]
Precious Presence
June 30 was WholeHeart, Inc.’s last day as a nonprofit. July 1 was my precious pup, Emerson’s, sixth anniversary. He passed on our way to the veterinarian after pawing his obituary. In lieu of flowers, donations to WholeHeart were encouraged. Emerson was WholeHeart’s Ambassador of Unconditional Love. He graced many[Read More…]
Joyful June
SHELBURNE – Looking out the window sitting at my meditation altar on June 1, I saw birds, bees and a baby bunny. Bunny picked a dandelion and munched contentedly on it from stem to going-to-seed flower. The season’s first hummingbird flew overhead to bless the meal. Grace whispered, “It’s going[Read More…]
May Mayhem
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” It’s hard to hear our hearts when we are yelling, insulting, firing, defunding, deporting, defying court orders, defiling democracy, and denigrating our neighbors. Sylvia Boorstein, a Jewish Buddhist teacher, repeatedly says to herself[Read More…]
Poetry as Protest
SHELBURNE — How many tyrants were abused as toddlers, tweens, or teens? Historically, many. My friend, fellow poet, and former Governor, Madeleine Kunin, wisely noted years ago that the problem with cliches is the truth behind them. Misery loves company. Are there tyrants making you miserable? Write a poem. Place[Read More…]
Muse Not News
SHELBURNE — March madness has a whole new meaning for me this year. It has nothing to do with basketball. Listening to my muse is more constructive than taking in too much news. Even when I briefly check the day’s events, I’m listening for poetry. Rep. Becca Balint invites us[Read More…]
Fear or Forgiveness
SHELBURNE – Dr. Francis Collins in his recent book, “The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust,” says there are four significant criteria that can help us decide whether to trust an individual or an institution: integrity, competence, aligned values and humility. He depicts these graphically as four[Read More…]
