Archive
A Presidents Day Poem: Currency for the Debt
On Presidents’ Day my thoughts often turn to Washington and Lincoln and their birthday month. When I was a kid we celebrated both days, the 12th for Lincoln and the 22nd for Washington. Now, I guess for the sake of commerce and profit we can only take one day to observe both, or even all of the Presidents that have served us.
And yes, debt is on my mind as we careen toward a trillion dollar deficit! But there is so much more we owe than dollars! One of my most esteemed teachers, Martín Prechtel, often spoke of the Mayan philosophy that we are all born into debt and can never really get out of debt. This is my theme for the day.
Currency for the Debt
We are born into debt; we die in debt.
We stand on the bones of the ancestors
Gazing outward and we wonder:
What is the currency to pay this debt?
Our freedom is bought by the lives of those who defend us.
Our land is bought with the blood of those who have gone before.
Our blessings are bought with the hard labor of slaves.
What is the currency for our security?
The metal we have is leached from our ancestors’ bones.
The blood we have was shed by the soldiers and slaves we lost.
The freedom we have was saved by those who sacrificed all.
And security: Do we pay this debt with our freedom?
Democracy is demanding our attention to this debt.
Presidents have paid dearly to pave this costly way.
And yet, we wonder: would we throw it all over
For the surety of one more breath, one more bite?
©2020, Richard W. Bredeson, all rights reserved.
A Poem for our Birthdays: The Miracle of Our Togetherness
Rosemary and I have been sharing this August 2 birthday for 47 years! It is a special day and we treat ourselves to play and feasting. Today will be no different!
I began the day thinking about this fun fact of shared birthdays and about our relationship. This poem came to help make her day special:
The Miracle of Our Togetherness
It is a joy for me to share your birthday!
And as we sail swiftly into our Golden Years,
Our Golden Time together,
I just want to reflect on that shared journey.
We were like two lightening bugs flashing
On a warm July evening seeking each other
In the wilds of the wide world,
Not even realizing there was a joining to be made.
We were so different! And joined with others.
You, the conservative, Catholic cosmopolitan girl;
I, the gangly, sometimes goofy, farm boy still out to save the world.
You from Washington, DC; I from the wilds of Wisconsin and Africa.
And we flashed in that July heat all that time ago;
We knew, instantly (or eventually) that our worlds had changed.
We knew some magic, some miracle had brought us together.
And we still know there is magic to make together.
It is a magic of pure gold, a magic all our own.
Others see it, know it; the gods see it, show it to us.
And we see it, know it, struggle with words to show it:
The Gold of Lightening; the flash, the sizzle, the bright light of Love.
Lammas, magic cross-quarter time, a golden time
Of harvest, the reaping time of all that has been sown.
The light shifts now from the silver light of summer
To the golden light of autumn: Our Golden Time.
©2019, Richard W. Bredeson, all rights reserved.
A Poem to Celebrate the coming: “Winter Solstice”
While many say “Jesus is the reason for the season” it was a season long before Jesus hit the scene. As with all of the Church holy days they are mapped onto ancient observations that may go back 100 thousand years or more.
I love the Winter Solstice for many reasons, but mostly for the return of the Sun (or Son if you will). After the three days around Solstice the Sun will rise again and begin the long climb to Summer Solstice.
Rosemary and I celebrate the Solstice as part of our Holidays. Happy Holidays to all, whatever and however you celebrate.
Winter Solstice
They say we are on a spiral journey;
We spin on the Mother,
Spinning around the Father,
Spinning at the edge of the Milky Way,
Wheeling through the fringe of the Verse.
The effects of this swirling seem small:
Summer Solstice spins through Fall
And on to deepening Winter as
Light recedes in lowering sky
And Spirit draws nigh offering Love.
The cycle is grounded in Mother’s core,
Energy following graceful traces of
Magnetic forces, lifting consciousness
Along soft grooves of innocence,
Natural paths for expanding vision.
Spiraling consciousness follows
These graceful lines of attracting energy,
Mapping courses for the transformations
Forever carrying us higher,
But never far away.
Earth bound and sky happy we rise
Ever seeking, always believing
There is more, we are more.
The season reminds the reason
We spiral on, lifting gradually.
We stretch our plastic minds,
Resisting brittle breakage
On our destined way.
Each turn reveals more, creates new
Perspectives, bigger dreams, exposing
Even so, the next turn.
Solstice deep to Solstice high
We spiral from choice to choice
Knowing the journey, seeing
Transformations from new heights
Learning more with every turn.
©2018, Richard W. Bredeson, all rights reserved.
A Mid-Week Poem: “Light”
One of the many things I love about autumn is the light. We are experiencing absolutely perfect Fall weather here in Maryland and the light streaming down epitomizes that love I have. It must be the angle of the sun well past equinox at this point, the way it casts that golden hue to everything it touches. The view of the light toward the south from my writing chair is the inspiration of today’s poem. Happy mid-week!
Light
Reflections dance, glinting shards of Light winking on and off
Over the nearly still surface of the mirror-like lake.
The flashes could be the under-bellies of leaping fish
Or simply the lightest of breezes playing over reflections of sky.
It’s difficult to block out the Light seeping through cracks in the wall;
Even the shadows cannot hide, cannot exist in the absence of Light.
Squinting through nearly closed eyes at the stream from the crack
Reveals the coat of many colors worn so beautifully by the Light.
There is no escape, no corner to hide, no distance to run from the Light;
It is the first and last of the holy creation that reveals consciousness.
Reflection within reflections, echoes of time, the record of the beginning
Stream down, all around, signs of eternity from the Ancient of Days.
©2017 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
And then this happened…
Once again there’s been a delay between posts here. And I haven’t written any poems lately. Many of you already know why:
Sometime, just after the “Lion’s Gate” event on 8/8/2017, I had a heart attack. I am a bit vague about exact time here because my symptoms were pretty mild – no great drama, no race by ambulance to the hospital, no life-saving actions by first responders. No, just a few days of chest pressure and a restless, mostly sleepless night on 8/10.
On 8/11 I taught my Friday morning Qigong class. This felt good, but the pressure in my chest continued and began migrating to my back. Hmmm! Between Rosemary and me we decided to give our local “urgent care” a try. Good experience. They sent me to the emergency room with EKG, chest X-Ray and instructions to Rosemary to get me through triage fast.
Long story short my troponin level, a protein marker for heart attack, was through the roof. By early morning on 8/12 I was on my way via ambulance to Washington Hospital Center for catheterization to determine the cause of this heart event. In at 8:30; by 9:00 they knew I had blockage that needed CABG (the cardiology short-hand for Cardiac Artery Bypass Graft) – three of them in fact.
My CABGx3 got scheduled for Tuesday, August 15 (Mary’s Assumption Day, so I knew I was in good hands!). I spent the rest of Saturday through Monday in the hospital under acute observation; I had this time to prepare.
I continued my Qigong practice. There was this lovely atrium window on the fourth floor where I could go through my morning routine in nice light. I knew at this point that Qigong had saved my life, kept me healthy and strong enough to endure/survive the heart attack. I certainly wasn’t going to stop practice now, especially prior to surgery!
Surgery was routine, as these things go. I suspect splitting open a person’s chest to access the heart’s arteries is never quite routine. My care at Washington Hospital was stellar! I can’t imagine my experience going any better. (OK, the food was not gourmet but it was edible!). By Saturday, 8/19, one week after admission, was released with new drugs and a few restrictions. No Qigong for a few days! But I walked out with the “heart of a 20-year old” (according to the cardiologist who read my echocardiogram) and new plumbing.
And I have been on a fast-track to full recovery ever since. I started my Qigong classes up again on 9/22 – added two make-up classes to cover the missed August classes.
And now I am launching my next series of classes for the Fall 2017; they run from October 6 through December 29, 10:30 am in West Annapolis. And these classes are available LIVE via internet. You can find the details on my website (linked below).
Qigong saved my life. It continues to speed my recovery process. And I am committed to bring this ancient, life-saving technology to as many people as I can reach.
Join me for this life-saving practice! QigongistheWay.com
A poem for the summer solstice: High Sun Days
Our longest day of the year, here in the northern hemisphere, was yesterday, June 21 at 12:24 AM EDT to be exact. Huge crowds gathered at Stonehenge, one of our oldest calendars of human design, to witness the solar event. There are many ways to mark and celebrate this time of high summer when days are long and the sun is high in the sky. I wrote a poem to remember to remember:
High Sun Days
Long shadows persist
Pointing southwest
Toward the hot desert
In the early morning haze
Creating a ghostly dance of light.
Long shadows persist
Pointing southeast
Toward the humid swamp
In the late evening haze
Creating a lingering dance of light.
These are high sun days,
Long lazy days of floating light,
Shadows creating two edges
Of a butterfly wing,
Creating a sense of peace and long life.
The rising sun of summer
Dances on the edge, shimmering.
The setting sun of summer
Lingers at the edge, remembering.
Life and love float on wings of butterflies.
©2017 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Update and a Poem: Testimony
I have not posted here in a while but I have been busy! Personally I have been deepening my study and practice of Qigong to become a better teacher. The more I study, the more I realize Qigong is not only my life-long practice for health, happiness and longevity, but also my passion to share this health-giving, life-saving technology from ancient China. And it is so simple, so easy, and FREE!
One of my teachers, Jeff Primack, came to Baltimore in early April for a three-day intensive. It is always great to be with a teacher; and I had a profound experience of energy rising during the closing “breath circle.”
In late April Rosemary and I traveled to Sedona and the Mago Retreat Center for an amazing experience with Teacher of Soul, Katye Anna Clark and about 30 other travelers from all over the country. The retreat was a four-day intensive immersion for “Living from the Heart.” Wow! Another transformational experience of opening the heart to live more fully from the soul. And I had the distinct honor of teaching Qigong every morning of the retreat in the beautiful settings of Mago.
And in mid-May I traveled to Daytona Beach to spend another three-day intensive with Jeff Primack, this time at his National event: QiRevolution. And I met another of my teachers, Dr. Roger Janke who offered profound insights into health and wellness from his 40-year perspective of teaching and practicing Chinese Medicine and Medical Qigong.
It was a magical spring. I am honored and humbled to have experienced profound shifts. I am grateful for my further awakening. And I am motivated for share my insights.
And with that I offer:
Testimony
Health is a personal thing
And it is a choice.
It’s personal because it comes from inside;
And only you can make the choice.
Look to the outside;
Visit the impersonal health-care facility,
The hospital near you, the place
You would go if seriously ill or injured.
Do you see health there?
Oh, there is plenty of care.
Sickness, disease, crippling injures
Are within the realm of care here.
Look rather to the inside
If you are seeking health care.
There is where your health lives;
It is in your heart, your mind, your soul.
Your body is a walking, fluid, pharmacopeia.
Visit is often to find wellness.
Breathe, meditate, seek inside
The magic pill of health, happiness, longevity.
Be the testimony to your free choice.
Breathe the richness all life offers.
Move inward to seek the Light.
Balance in the flow of boundless Love.
©2017 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
New Year’s Eve: Out with the Old!
One of the teachers I am working with has asked us, as part of our year-end review, to release all the old habits, feelings, beliefs, thoughts that are not serving us. I’ve spent this week reviewing the year, in fact the past nine years, to dredge up and lever out the old “stuff” that’s “down there!” As another of my teachers would say, “it is time to metabolize that “stuff” and turn it into compost for new growth!”
2016 is a 9-year, a year for completion. 2017 is a 1-year, a year for new beginnings! Today is a great day to release the old to make room for the new.
Here is my poem to reflect on this process; a riff on the five elements of Classical Chinese Medicine and Philosophy:
Release—
Anger through forgiveness:
Grow through the lessons,
Rise with the lengthening days,
Draw on all the resources,
Create your own destiny!
Anxiety through surrender:
Expand through the lessons,
Allow engaging relationships,
Mature in thoughts and actions,
Manifest inalienable joy!
Worry through service:
Serve from the lessons,
Share from the heart,
Engage in all life offers,
Adapt to the Way of life!
Grief through acceptance:
Transmute through the lessons,
Balance loss with gifts,
Release emptiness for fullness,
Purify life through praise!
Fear through trust:
Contemplate life’s lessons,
Believe in your own power,
Feel free and confident in life,
Flow through the currents to Wisdom!
©2016 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Happy Halloween! A poem for Samhain
The veil between worlds thins at this time of the year. Samhain is the holiday in Celtic tradition that celebrates this special cross-quarter day, half-way between Equinox and Solstice. It is the new year! A time of letting go and resting as we approach the long nights of winter.
Feeling the Other Side most clearly at this time I offer this as my treat:
Thin Little Veil (with apologies to Bob Sima)
The season drifts toward the dark;
Slanting rays glance lower, shorter.
The bright light of high summer fades
To the sadder shade of yellow tinged with gold.
The cold creeps slowly along the road;
Longer nights hold it to linger there.
The warmth of high sun is but remembered
As the chill settles deeper in the bones.
The veil ‘tween here and gone shreds;
Thinner now, revealing more it drifts.
Gossamer, hiding nothing, not even shadows
As it wisps away as fine mist.
This Halloween the thin little veil
Opening the way to the Other Side
Stands as a welcoming sign
And beckons us to listen well.
©2016 Richard W. Bredeson. All rights reserved.
Love is Health
I am reading Martín Prechtel’s most recent book, “The Smell of Rain on Dust.”
Martín is one of my most revered teachers. When the world is fortunate enough to receive another of his gifts of writing, I immediately acquire the book, and then I savor it, sometime putting off reading for a time knowing I have it, but delaying the incredible gratification I get when I read his lovely words.
I studied with Martín for a few years almost a decade ago now; I sat with him in his Bolad’s Kitchen, cooking in the soup of his stories, his character and his wisdom. Now whenever I get to read one of his books, new or old, I can hear his voice, the cadence and timber, the melody, the harmonies as he speaks with reverence for life, nature, the indigenous soul of humanity.
I am in the middle of this current book, published in 2015 but current to me. When I am finished I’ll post a complete review here. But for now I want to quote the end of Chapter 6: “Paddles of Tears, Canoes Made Out of Old Songs”. This short quote summarizes in a tidy nugget where I am right now in life and what continues to carry me forward into my 8th decade:
The eloquence of our own affection for one another keeps the world healthy. Praise and the depth of our grief expressed for one another keeps the world in love. Love is health.
Please enjoy!
Men and The Goddess 