Keepers of the Flame

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Keepers of the Flame


I’ve happened onto a new process with poetry and I want to share what I’m learning from it. When someone finds a use for a poem of mine, I take that as a signal that the Universe wants me to pay attention to the poem myself, and to learn something new from it. Always there is something new. I may have had something in mind when I first wrote the poem, but other people see different things in it. And so might I in this moment. Things I’d not seen before. Here’s my most recent example of that practice.

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Turning Towards Life: A Podcast

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Turning Towards Life: A Podcast

Out of the blue, I got an e-mail from a stranger named Justin Wise in the UK with a link to a half-hour podcast that he and colleague Lizzie had done, about my poem Fire and what it suggests to them. Justin was reflecting on his habit of piling on more work. And Lizzie who is three weeks into motherhood, sees the poem as guidance and encouragement. I'm delighted (it's always a gift to know that our work in the world has been of use, near or faraway). The words of the poem are my own. But I'm curious about their take on it. So I listen.

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Leadership Development: “results are not immediate.”

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Leadership Development: “results are not immediate.”

Last week a group of non-profit leaders from elder-serving organizations met here, and one thread that ran through our conversations, was begun by my colleague Audrey, who said that she was increasingly aware in leadership development work that “results are not immediate.”  Results come in their own time. 

 Her words have stayed with me, particularly after watching the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympics.  How long people trained to compete at that level!  The amount of practice to develop that level of mastery.  The quality of coaching.  The support of family, friends.  “The results are not immediate.”

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The Power of the Pause

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The Power of the Pause

A few days ago, working with leaders from nonprofits who serve elders, I opened with a poem.  When we took a break, one of the executives whose leadership experience before entering eldercare was in the military, asked me "Why don't you leave a moment of silence after you read a poem?" 

I was startled. And appreciative of his question. I'm a great proponent of the power of silence--as you can see in the poem of mine that follows--but with poems, especially my own, I have a hard time practicing what I preach.  

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Leading in Tough Times

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The question of how to lead people through the uncertainties and fears of tough times has long fascinated me. It is an inquiry which I have carried across all sectors, many fields. So I particularly appreciate the invitation to share with leaders in the field of aging services, what seem to me to be a dozen critical leadership practices for such times.

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Welcoming the Feminine

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Welcoming the Feminine
This writing is an invitation to explore territory that is tough, full of uncertainties, confusions

A friend tells me that when there are no words and still we know we must persist, we are in the presence of the transcendent. That is perfect territory for a poet, for whom words are at the heart of the matter, and yet for whom the act of writing is always, like following the tracks of a small animal in fresh snow, an effort to point toward the elusive, the paradoxical, the transcendent. 

I ask you to join me in that process.

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