Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Student poems
Here are three poems from one of my students inside. The first relates to the man he killed. The second speaks for itself, and the third was one he wrote after one of the first spiritual circles we shared. Sorry i am not allowed to share his name, but enjoy his poetry!
Him
As the Spring time Ends,
and summer sets in,
i remember Him.
As I trace the lines in my hands,
from the ends to where they begin,
i remember Him.
As my heartbeat quickens,
and it's difficult to breathe in,
i remember Him.
As my eyes spill forth tears,
'Cause they're full to the brim,
i remember him.
When i think of all the chances,
That I'll never have again,
I remember Him.
Now i know that life is precious,
and how to be a friend,
These things I would have never known
if I did't remember Him.
*****
Inspiration
They are me, and I am them,
Another broken hearted, wounded man,
No matter what they say, or what they do,
It's a manifestation of what they're going through,
And its only to themselves that they can be true,
But they are me, and I am them,
Another struggling while wounded,
Broken hearted,
Man.
*****
Freedom Flight
Within this rust-coated birdcage
Populated by Eagles, Hawks, Falcons,
And the ones who wish to be seen as such;
Wings clipped, hooded, and jessed,
There are the select few
Who still yearn for the open sky.
Not fettered or encumbered with the weight
Of preoccupation with predatory pretense,
They instead would be content
To merely fly once more,
Feeling the wind slice through to their innermost parts.
they would forever forego meat
And only dine upon fruits
If allowed one final opportunity
To feel weightless,
The sun warming their back,
And the future as open, vast, and limitless
As the heavens that beckon them ...
18:51 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Letting the poems out
Encouraged by the men inside to stop being so shy about my poetry, I promised I would get some of my prison related poems out of my journals... Prison poems for blog 07.do
In taking out the prison poems, I got together acollection of Wandering in the Rubicon poems from my walking meditations in the Rubicon Canyon, Lake Tahoe...07 Rubicon poems 2.doc
And another group of poems from my travels in SE Asian and India Winter of 2007. 07 Travel poems 3.doc
16:30 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Beckoned Inside
I am drawn inside
Two, three times a week
Driving the distance
Wearing the right colors
Labeled, screened, alarmed
So many locks, so many gates, so little invitation
And Yet
Way seems to open as I make my way
Beckoned into that core sanctuary
Drab, gray, stripped of idols and altars.
Beckoned inside,
over and over again,
into the Holiness that is calling …
The Holiness that claims the unique beauty of us all.
The Holiness that weaves us together
trashing the labels
of saint and sinner, of male and female, of teacher and student.
The Holiness that beckons us further inside,
further inside,
further inside,
with each visit,
each communion,
each movement,
each breath.
Beckons us further inside
the sanctuaries of our own core being-ness
inside the harmonized movement of our group chi
inside of who we think we are.
The Holiness that beckons each of us
inside the walls and gates,
inside the guards and attitudes,
inside our personal stories
Beckons us into the boundless,
boundary-less freedom,
into the sanctuary of our core spiritual being.
I’ll meet you there
Ducat or not,
Gate pass or not
Lockdown or not
Capricious guards or not
Fog line or not
Penetrate the barriers
beckon yourself inside.
22:22 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Friday, October 05, 2007
Home Sick Poems
I’ve been home sick for the week with a cold/flu and my system always misses the journey inside (prison) and then in these foggy, sleepy, resting, healing times a variation of a trip inside often seems to happen. Here are yesterday’s poems written in and out of reading some Osho materials….I always seem to be floating between a deep knowing of the rightness of the work I do teaching QiGong inside the prisons and the contrasts between my life and theirs.
Judy Tretheway 10/5/07
Who’s going anywhere?
Traveling partners, you and I
No common route,
No easy directions
Finding our way between
Prisons and freedoms
Spiraling inward independently
Expanding out into communion together
My one, solitary, free, female story
weaving its way among
your many, congested, imprisoned, male stories.
Touching in,
Intertwining
ever so lightly, respectfully
Never suspecting we are going nowhere,
only being "real" together,
Allowing our ripples to do the traveling for us.
Taking shape
It gives my “ME” shape, substance, to go inside prison:
I know myself as female, when all I see is men
I believe myself to be free, because I have the keys and walk away each night.
I can hear the teacher in me, when you come to listen.
I recognize my value, when your eyes sparkle with gratitude.
I sense my own connection to spirit, when your eagerness beckons the Force
Pretty much just pretense, no?
We are but clouds,
wandering around one special piece of sky for a moment.
Shape shifting
between stormy and bright
Pouring out our tears together
watering the earth
Offering up our flimsy substance
to reflect a little light today
while waiting to be blown apart tomorrow.
Allow your eyes to adjust
What do you see when you
SEE ME?
The Light side
as God sees me,
full of potential, full of spirit?
Or the Shadow Side
cast by the density and pain of my story?
Wandering with eyes closed
Seeking without looking
Trying without trusting
Believing without experiencing
I am nothing without my Light
I disappear into the darkness
Allow your eyes to adjust
Look at me, and I’ll look at you.
12:47 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Saturday, December 02, 2006
The Poet's Obligation
To whoever is not listening to the sea
This Friday morning, to whoever is coped up
In house, office, factory or woman,
Or street or mine or harsh prison cell:
To that person I come, and, without speaking or looking,
I arrive and open the door of the prison,
And a vibration starts up, vague and insistent,
A great roar of thunder sets in motion
The rumble of the planet and the foam,
The groaning rivers of the ocean rise,
The star vibrates swiftly in its corona,
And the sea beats, dies, and goes on beating.
So, drawn on by my destiny,
I ceaselessly must listen to and keep
The sea’s lamenting in my consciousness
I must feel the crash of the hard water
And gather it up in a perpetual cup
So that, wherever those in prison may be,
Wherever they suffer the autumn’s castigation,
I may be present with an errant wave,
I move in and out of windows,
And hearing me, eyes may lift themselves
‘saying “How can I reach the sea?”
And I shall broadcast, saying nothing,
The starry echoes of the wave,
A breaking up of foam and of quicksand,
A rustling of salt withdrawing,
The grey cry of sea-birds on the coast.
So, through me, freedom and the sea
Will call in answer to the shrouded heart.
--Pablo Neruda, found in Teaching with Fire
Poetry that sustains the courage to Teach.
11:30 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Monday, September 25, 2006
Tapping into the Flow
“There is an abundant flow available to us all. We must access this infinite wellspring of God-substance. This is done at first in consciousness, and after that in the outer world. Claim it! Tap it! It is yours!”
~Greg Barrette
09:55 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
It will not fail us.
The reality that is present to us and in us:
call it Being...Silence.
And the simple fact that by being attentive,
by learning to listen
(or recovering the natural capacity to listen)
we can find ourself engulfed in such happiness
that it cannot be explained:
the happiness of being at one with everything
in that hidden ground of Love
for which there can be no explanations....
May we all grow in grace and peace,
and not neglect the silence that is printed
in the centre of our being.
It will not fail us.
--Thomas Merton
11:20 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Friday, December 23, 2005
Holiday Prayer
To all the incarcerated men and women who are vital part of our human family,
To their families and victims,
To the men and women who serve them, the public, and the prison system,
To all those on parole,
To all who have been touched in one way or another by our penal system,
May we know ourselves as precious children of God,
May we know that our lives matter,
May we hear the message of hope, of peace, of love
That comes to us in the darkest part of the winter.
May we trust a deep knowing that our own future
and that of the prison system,
is in our own hands, our actions matter.
May we each be the message of hope, of peace, of love
that is needed to bring the Light into this darkness.
22:20 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Moon Dance
Outside,
Above
A Moon shines bright
Inside
Under
Clouds of drama swirling inside me,
stories of men
who will never see the moon’s sparkle
murky sorrow binding me and their pain.
“Wake up! Come Outside!” whispers the Moon.
See … See … See …
Do I really care
Who is in and who is out?
The men locked uptight behind bars
Or you locked in your thoughts?
See … See … See …
Toss their stories at the moon.
Dance with them under the stars.
See … See … See …
“I shine anyway, beloved child”
she winked,
“Come, let’s each dance and choose to be free.”
18:05 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this
Sunday, November 13, 2005
The Ultimate form of Worship is Silence.
After meditating Saturday evening, preparing for Sunday Meeting for Worship.
I can not offer myself in a greater way
to the service of another,
to God,
than to listen silently,
setting my own ideas and needs aside,
to wait upon their direction;
to hold them in highest esteem,
to be in Worship.
To be in awe
is to be wordless.
Not words, nor music; no scent, nor image
can reflect God, name God or approach God.
They are self-serving scratches
at a keyhole so vast
only the unbounded silence of expectant waiting
might have a chance at opening the lock,
that was never locked,
And open the door
that has always been open.
Come put your silence into the lock,
Open the door into the heart of God,
Lay yourself in the doorway.
Offer all that you might ever be
And always have been.
21:50 Posted in As a Quaker ... , Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
The way I am needed
Lead me to places of loneliness and pain.
May Your words shine in my mouth.
May I trust that the way You have made me
is the way that is needed.
--Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.
17:25 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
What is Qi (chi)?
O Hidden Light, shining in every creature,
O Hidden Love, embracing all in Oneness,
May we each who feels himself as one with Thee
Know he is therefore one with every other.
--Annie Besan
14:05 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Friday, September 02, 2005
While there is a soul in prison
“Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on the earth. I said then and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”
Eugene Debs
16:40 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
May we both be free
Tomorrow morning I am off for the teachers conference and will be seeing the man who is free now, who started the program at Old Folsom. I am praying to heal our heal relationship, if nothing else to drop the tension and assumptions on my side. The story is a story, and what is most valuable is that I enlist your prayers of support as I go and aspire to live from my center and speak my truth, giving us both the chance to be free and not locked up in my memories of our difficulties back in 2001.
Gratefully,
Judy
22:30 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
A privilege
“Be grateful to the man you help,
think of him as God.
Is it not a great privilege
to be allowed to worship God
by helping your fellow-man?”
-Vivekananda (1863-1902)
08:20 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Monday, July 11, 2005
Diving into the river
You and I stood at the edge of the river
Deep inside Folsom prison
Surrendering into its flow
Together we were swept away
Finding each other in the infinite chi
Losing each other in transfers and lock downs
Years later I find you
Locked up in Avenal
And once again we dive into the river
Surrendering to the joy in our hearts
Where will I find you next?
19:30 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Prayers for tomorrow
Note the date that shows on the top of these blog pages is the date in France. I write this on the third of May...
Tomorrow, Wednesday, I begin two new prison programs in a different yard within New Folsom prison. “B” Yard Chapel will offer a Moving Meditation program at 3 o’clock and a Circle of Life spiritual support group at 5:30 pm. The men that are being invited to come live in the gym — about 120 men (Level I and II) in rows of bunks — emergency housing -- they are normally not allowed out at all during the day, because the main residents of “B” Yard are notorious Level 4 maximum security inmates. This yard is known for its lack of programming.
I ask for your prayers
that the Divine helps bring the men that these programs can best serve to attend.
that Joanne and I are fully present, grounded and clear channels.
that we are able to listen and respond to the movement of God within the men and the group.
that the formats of these classes provide a healthy opportunity for healing, growth and spiritual blessings for all who attend, those who watch over us, and those who feel its ripples.
On Thursday, I will be taking Swami Rishi into my classes on “C” Yard in New Folsom and my Old Folsom chapel program. May God watch over us and guide us both so that this blessing reaches forth in its fullest potential.
Please check the web journal to hear how these days unfolded.
http://chifully.blogspirit.com/
Thanks for all your support!!
Chifully,
Judy Tretheway
21:35 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Monday, January 17, 2005
Prayer for our practice - 1st Newsletter
May the deep peace and stability of the earth be ever present within us.
May the infinite possibilities and vibrant energy of the heavens enlighten our journey within.
May the wisdom and creativity of the healing chi guide our movements and our stillness.
May the truth that we discover in our practice stay present as we move about in our daily lives.
May we honor the chi in it’s current expression within all we meet and invite it into a dynamic flow with a vision of balance and harmony for all.
16:15 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Prison inspired poems
Judy Tretheway • May 15, 1999 •
Under the Open sky along the Yuba river, stimulated by the loving touch poison oak oils.
The prison works goes with me everywhere, as do the men whom I carry in my heart.
Freedom 1
The plants are free
Free to reach for the sun
Wave in the wind
Bud and flower
Seed and die.
Finding a slender crevice in a rock
Nourished somehow for their cycle in the sun
Fewer here on the rock
than in the valley below.
Free to be, but not to leave.
Note: Folsom prison sits high on a rocky crag overlooking what is now Folsom Lake and Folsom Dam. There is a view from the yard out over the American River valley.
Freedom 2
Freedom is illusive
always out of reach
Till you look inside your hand
Find it, and release.
Is it freedom for your body
that you suffer and seek?
Or dreams of new songs to sing?
Freedom to fly on the wings of your soul?
Freedom to be anything?
I am free to go and sit by the river
watching it flow and dance.
They sit behind bars
watching, waiting, for one more chance.
If I rely upon the river, to make my pen flow
Is my freedom any closer than theirs?
Note: This poem explores what opens me up into a full expression of freedom, the free flow of a poem. Is that something, in my case here being next to a sweetly flowing river, liberating us, or am I dependent upon it for inspiriation?
Freedom 3
Will I wait in a cell?
Waiting for the tears to flow?
Unlocking the wisdom
to know and to dance,
releasing the song to be sung?
Is freedom in the dream or freedom in the dance?
Opening here, or opening there
Finding the melody of the dream in the dance.
Dancing in dreams to melodies still unsung.
Who is to say where freedom is?
17:35 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
Without one, we do not have a whole
Busy, normal people: the world is here.
Can you hear it wailing, crying, whispering?
Listen: the world is here.
Don't you hear it,
Praying and sighing and groaning for wholeness?
Sighing and whispering: wholeness,
wholeness, wholeness?
An arduous, tiresome, difficult journey
towards wholeness.
God, who gives us strength of
body, make us whole.
Wholeness of persons: well-being of individuals....
Wholeness means healing the hurt,
Working with Christ to heal the hurt,
Seeing and feeling the sufferings of others,
Standing alongside them....
Heal the sores on the feet;
Salvage the disintegrated personality;
Bind the person back into the whole.
For without that one, we do not have a whole.
Even if there are ninety-nine:
Without that one, we do not have a whole.
God, who gives us strength of
body, make us whole.
--From An African Call for Life
16:35 Posted in Poetry & Prayers | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this