My, Oh, Maya!
My friend Maya's birthday was last week. Maya is an amazing poet, a women who knows how to see things. How to frame them to bring out their truth and beauty. I had this idea that I was going to send out my newsletter on her birthday, Cinco de Mayo (Cinco de Maya!) and surprise her with a tribute to her poetic ways. Alas, as things often go 'round here, life spins way too quickly for me to be able to turn all my ideas into reality in the timeline I imagine. But here I am. A little late. But here. What I want to say is that knowing Maya has taught me a thing or two about simple celebration. About how to frame a moment and choose how to view it. About not judging our experiences. About keeping our eyes and ears open, available to what life wants to offer. Poetry can sometimes feel very inaccessible. Remember the highfalutin verse we had to memorize in high school? That's often what I think of when I think of poems. But over the last number of years, I've been discovering some contemporary poets who write in a way that doesn't need to be untangled or mulled over for a long time. (Not that there is anything wrong with those kinds of poems!) Maya is one of my favorite contemporary poets. And it isn't just because she's my friend. It is because she gives us permission to be human. She offers us the gift of seeing ourselves and our lives in new ways. This newsletter is in honor of Maya. But at the heart of it, it is in honor of honoring who we are and how we live our lives on a daily basis. It is in honor of the ordinary, which when we stop to admire and allow and appreciate, is always truly extraordinary. Believe by Maya Stein
Maybe the camera crew is at someone else’s house, a spotlight haloing over another’s fleshy story. Maybe the mailman is delivering the good news to your neighbor, or a different city entirely, and you come home to a rash of catalogues, the second notice for a doctor’s bill, a plea from the do-gooders for whatever you can spare. Maybe you haven’t cleaned your kitchen floor in weeks, forgotten to nourish the front garden, spilled too much coffee in your car, weaving through traffic. Maybe you are 10 pounds heavier than last year. Maybe your skin is betraying your age. Maybe winter is ravaging your heart. Maybe you are afraid, or lonely, or furious, or wanting out of every commitment you entered with vigor and trust. Maybe you’ve bitten your nails down to the quick, chosen your meals badly, ignored the advice of those who know you best. Maybe you are stubborn as a toddler. Maybe you are clumsy or foolish or hasty or reckless. Maybe you haven’t read all the books you’re supposed to. Maybe your handwriting is still illegible after all these years. Maybe you spent too much on a pair of shoes you didn’t need. Maybe you left the window open and the rain ruined the cake. Maybe you’ve destroyed everything you wanted to save. Still. If anything, believe in your own strange loveliness. How your body, even as it stumbles, angles for light. The way you hold a dandelion with such yearning and tenderness, the whole world stops spinning.
Poem copyright Maya Stein; Originally published in Maya's poetry blog, One Paragraph at a Time, 12/15/09. Also included in What is Dying to be Born: A Compilation of Women's Wisdom, Vision, and Imagination. Project initiated, collated and designed by Lianne Raymond
xo Sherry P.S. If you visit Maya's blog, you'll see a place to sign up for Ten Line Tuesdays, a free "weekly dose o' poetry sent directly to your inbox. PPS: If you have favorite poems, classic or contemporary, that lift your spirit, will you tell me about 'em on the Facebook Fan Page or via email?
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Simple Celebration 
Can you think of something that you might take for granted about yourself? Something "too ordinary" to celebrate? Maybe you're the one who always remembers the birthday cake for co-workers. Maybe you're the one who is always on time. Maybe you have a way of making people feel better about themselves. Maybe you have great style and are walking art. Maybe you bring calm when folks are upset? Can you take a minute to appreciate something about yourself? For added credit, do something special to celebrate this part of you — treat yourself to dahlias or a new book or those colored markers you've been wanting.
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