–

This is My Territory

Living like a monk, an artist, a mystic,
I walk in the late afternoon air,
looking at backlit milkweed pods
that are burst open with frothy seeds
glisteningly ready to take flight.
I read and ponder,
perch and contemplate.
I ramble and explore, going
where I’ve never gone before,
and discover in each location
a widening, further, expanded
sense of home.
I provide spiritual direction,
prodding heavenward,
to what is here and now,
professionally loving for a living.
I juxtapose hue,
and position saturated zing
against fields of low intensity,
alternating visual density
with contrasting,
collected calm–
the content just rhapsodizes,
on that mutually supportive backdrop.

I listen and pray,
experiencing both as the same.
I paint and print and write poems;
they are all equivalent too.
I taste and hike and float
buoyant with equanimity,
submerged restfully alert
in benevolent being.

Oneness abounds,
composition is supreme,
wholeness governs.
God talks and I respond,
obedient to the need
for variation, contentment,
radiance, joyful bliss,
and the necessity for both
large and small shapes–
the infinite, profound presence
and my meekly dependent reflection,
noticing, amplifying, and embracing
whatever is good everywhere.
With undertones of self-abnegation,
I illustrate and apply abstract concepts
as I applaud every fellow emissary
of virtuous, excellent quality.

I thrill to texture and flavor
as non-material,
gregarious constructs
of satisfying transformation.
I am the embodiment
of the Creator’s
thoughts about Life
strong, fresh, healthy,
and flexibly adaptive.
Ideas rush around
bouncing off of each other
percolating, gesticulating,
manifesting, connecting
to the broadest sense
of supreme completeness.
Witnessing and adoring the original,
I simply strive to express it–
humbly answering the call.

I respectfully submit that
I am not
even remotely
hierarchical,
because the divine encompasses
and equalizes every level
so your hierarchal clubs,
organizations, boards, and societies,
are of no consequence to me.
I am, however, extremely territorial,
and this is the turf where I belong,
squarely planted, roots running deep
in my pleasant plot of jurisdiction.
This space of blissful cogitation,
and conveying practical gratitude
for all abundance– is mine.
Others have their realms
of sports or theater,
government or finance,
technology or mechanics,
but me, I’m about
sustainable authenticity,
healing arts and spiritual law,
innovative articulation,
getting outside into the larger picture,
discerning a truer reality,
proclaiming the conceptual,
metaphysical potential
through colorfully vibrant,
courageously sincere,
creative expression,
facilitating
the survival of the planet,
the fruition and congruence
of the individual,
accessing and freeing
the brilliant, inner song
of the Soul.

by Polly Castor
October 28, 2019

–