Celebrating the Arrival of Spring and a New Published Poem!
- Wild Honey Blogger
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
Happy Spring to everyone in the Northern Hemisphere! I am celebrating this beautiful season and the publication of a new poem in Tiny Seed Journal. "Unplanned Paths" tells the story of my unlikely meeting with Spirit the black leopard at the Jukani Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa in 2014 and explores the mysterious phenomenon of manifesting the things we focus on and the power of image and the imagination in bringing about our reality. I hope that you enjoy it. Many thanks to Emily and the editorial staff for choosing to feature this poem as part of their collection on the theme of paths.
I would like to dedicate "Unplanned Paths" to the memory of Spirit who passed away from cancer at the ripe old cat age of 21 years on June 18, 2023. Thank you to animal communicator, Anna Breytenbach and the staff at Jukani for taking such great care of him and giving him the life he deserved. Here is the link to the original video that I watched repeatedly and that inspired the poem. I'd also like the thank my daughter for allowing me to include the story of her mysterious meeting with her college roommate in this poem.
On the topic of manifesting through visual images, April 17 marks the beginning of the astrological year when the new moon will be in the sign of Aries the initiator. Many people including myself create "vision boards" at this time each year. The vision board is a collection of images that represent one's hopes and wishes for the next 12 months until the time of the next Aries new moon in 2027. It is fun and interesting to look at the previous vision board and see what things have come to fruition, often in surprising and synchronistic ways!
In welcoming spring I enjoyed two special outings with my adult children. My son and I had a wonderful visit to the Juanita Bay Wetlands Park in Kirkland, WA. Spring Fever had taken over the creatures there and we saw 4 bald eagles, 1 dozen cormorants, 4 dozen coots, 1 hummingbird, 2 black capped chickadees, a half dozen red wing blackbirds, 4 wood ducks, numerous mallards, 1 baby turtle, 1 fat muskrat and the rare sighting of 2 Virginia rails who are known for their secrecy and shyness!
My daughter and I took a day trip to the Skagit Valley to see the gorgeous daffodil fields. We enjoyed picking flowers at Tulip Valley Farms in Mount Vernon, WA and driving past the acres of yellow blooms. Each spring the city of La Conner hosts the daffodil and tulip festivals, drawing thousands of visitors. I am incredibly blessed to live in such a beautiful place as Washington State, and I LOVE spring so much!
Nature continues to be a place of refuge for me in these incredibly dark and dystopian days. I also take courage and joy in the company of my family and with friends who are resisting authoritarianism and fascism and voicing their opposition to war and the violent actions of our current governmental regime here at home and around the world. Here is my anti-war poem which was published by Seattle Poetry In Motion and spent a year traveling around on a city bus in 2017. "Soul Swim" expresses one of my fondest dreams for our world.
I will be participating in the No Kings 3 Protest on March 28. This is predicted to be the largest single day of protest in US history, and will be my 11th protest/march. I am deeply grateful to each individual around the world who is speaking out, taking action whether large or small, showing up, helping those is danger and in any way fighting for democracy, justice, peace and equality. I will be placing visual images representing my dream of the "island that does not know war" on my April 17 vision board for sure.
Love and peace to all,
Marianne (aka Wild Honey)