This Flowering Fullness…

All this flowering fullness
as our rough, dry feet stomp away,
shimmying hips swaying a forgotten melody
calling words of anything but retreat…

j. ruth kelly, 2013, all rights reserved
j. ruth kelly, 2013, all rights reserved

and just when I’m all done, turning heart in another direction,
the lyrics of this song play me along a path trailing secrets to love’s door.
if only we’d get up, brush off the past lies, all those past lives
posing a notion of failings bigger than now…

j. ruth kelly, 2013, all rights reserved
j. ruth kelly, 2013, all rights reserved

we could find the way, unearth the how
because we know why, in spite of all these drowning sighs…
why these blooming relentless songs arrest our perpetual refusal,
calling feet tripping fast back, grasping, clutching all these flowering reasons
to open the door…dance…dance…dance.

j. ruth kelly, 2013, all rights reserved
j. ruth kelly, 2013, all rights reserved

Drink This Cup…

this cup my blood…
the nectar of…
the heartbeat of…

some thunderous dance ‘neath cover
of leaves and longing night,
drops of torrential heaven cries
falling down, pounding ground
and all around a great unfolding,
blossoming redemption regardless of

all the accusations
all recrimination

fall to your knees and drink of this cup
the only one whose wholeness calls to your own,
the only one restoring primal innocence,
washing away confusion in earth’s profusion of song

drink deep this quiet magnificence,
seep into bones our song of union…

gardenia wine, j. ruth kelly, 2013
gardenia wine, j. ruth kelly, 2013

Feast Supreme

we are this sacred
flesh, form and feeling pulsing,
fusing feasts’ finest
in the fire of skin
and bone, bud and blossom,
seed of earth afire…
we dance in-between
and in the before after
spirit-body groan…
as the flower spreads,
so do we… inner/outer
flesh blooms feast supreme

j ruth kelly, 2013, all rights reserved

j ruth kelly, 2013, all rights reserved

Happy Father’s Day

Our scars and the resilient, willful, relentless quirks of soulfulness shape the sculpture that is the great unfolding of person, carving impressions on those we’re responsible for, turning us out into the streets and hills of life and back again to know – in the ebb and flow – whatever we can of the love we can be, the love we can share. We are, when determined to be shaped by love, ultimately grounded in a great steadfastness. We have the opportunity to embody that steadfastness as we stand in love with those we choose.
I am so thankful for the love then and now.

j. ruth kelly, 2013
j. ruth kelly, 2013

Carry Me Fast

“Teach me how to trust
my heart,
my mind,
my intuition,
my inner knowing,
the senses
of my body,
the blessings of my spirit,
teach me how to trust these things,
so that I may enter my sacred space and love
beyond my fear
And thus walk in balance
with the passing of each glorious sun…”

Lakota Prayer

Ruth’s Response…

Sweep me past the rubble
carry me fast to river rapid
where earth’s gentle cooling touch
washes “me” away, shredding scant no-face,
remnants of long-erected defenses
and
all of life’s angsty debris,
pour in, over, all around me
keeping vessel shiny, new
setting soul free
again and again.

deepriverinstagram2
Deep River, NC, 2013, j ruth kelly, all rights reserved

Serenade Special

There are memories and happenings you know will continue to sing to you long past the actual moments. They are usually down-to-earth, simple happenings and not always typical of the daily grind.

I’m privileged to experience something special-not-typical every now and then. Since my ex and I alternate weeks with our children, I’m picking them up at least twice a month and carting them to the home they’ve always known. (That doesn’t include the perpetual taxi service I am.) And, thankfully, since I work from the home, I see them every afternoon regardless of whose week it is. On the short ride to my house, car fully loaded with everything from xbox games to instruments, my sons sometimes hold their guitars and play as we make the less than 5 minute trip. I don’t know why it makes me grin every inch of the way or why the sound of enclosed guitar jams feeds my soul as richly as it does. It’s one of those things you know you’ll never lose. Sweet serenades…

j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved, 2013
j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved, 2013

Yes. It’s a slow driver at the wheel on these occasions. (With big sis taking pics!)

j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved, 2013
j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved, 2013

And it’s a song particularly perfect for accompanying the falling rain…

j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved, 2013
j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved, 2013

 

Radiohead’s Polyethylene (I like my sons’ acoustic, lyric-less, no frills rendition of it best, of course.)

 

Making Moonlight

all this magnificence hiding ‘neath petaled moment,
humming ancient stories for relentless sight.
a quiet beacon
making moonlight under cover.
hallowed holdings and fervent feltness
calling the wanderer home,
to the earth unfolding.

here there is no confusion,
only profusion of feast,
the love of being, of moment, now
somehow flashing eternity for our transient days,
the fleeting song of life.

j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved, 2013
j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved, 2013

Fields

In these fields growing…
beauty echoes fierce joy spins

j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved
j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved

love falls like sweet rain

j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved
j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved

and the sun sings a warmth no challenge can eclipse…

j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved
j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved

 

 

Mother’s Day Breakfast

…it’s the same every year and my once-a-year transgression a la eggs benedict. (Not that it’s the only transgression. It’s the only one of this variety!)

I’m so proud of my daughter’s success this year, I had to post the inevitable food image… YUM!

Happy Mama’s Day to all you moms and moms-at-heart …

j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved, 2013
j. ruth kelly, all rights reserved, 2013