After the Solstice - Happy Holidays and Best Wishes

shadows and light-rays

intertwined in a lace 

of togetherness

Sometimes we have to pass through the nadir of darkness to emerge into light, on the other side... We had our share of stressful events here in Southern California this year,  the Year of Total Eclipse, especially recently, with the La Tuna Fire in September and the Creek Fire in December. Both fires devastated our open spaces, hillside habitat, and destroyed quite a few houses, too.  Sadly, lots of animals died in both fires, and some animals moved: sighting of bobcats increased in our neighborhood since La Tuna Fire, probably because they lived in Verdugo Hills, covered with green bushes and trees even in the driest of summers, with lots of water and shade and food for the beautiful and dangerous cats...

through ash, through dead leaves

in search of a new home 

a bobcat walks

But then, there is light that casts no shadow, and shines straight in us, through us. I wish all of us, poets, and poetry lovers, to revel in such unique, clear, uplifting light on the holy days and through the next year. Let it be the Year of Light, the Year of peace and beauty.  I wish you all happiness and blessings. I wish...

a new world -

petals open and fade

my rose blossoms

Words have a lot of power and we know that what we say makes an imprint on reality, not only on the internal life, but also the reality around. How many people remember a harsh word, a label, a slur, from their childhood? How many words did we utter we'd rather not, in hindsight?  How many people curse others only have that curse reflected by the mirror of the Universe and came down upon them in unexpected and unexplained calamity? Or, the opposite, how many times do we say something sweet and nice, and a couple of hours later hear these lovely worlds reflected back to us, from someone different?

With Susan Rogers, the giver of Light, November 11, 2017

The Spiritual Quartet in an Easter Garden (Susan Rogers, Lois P. Jones, Ambika Talwar)

Someone sent me the following "decree" of St. Germain - from a fascinating collection of life-changing, and inspirational texts that are more orders, telling the world what it should be like, than prayers, begging for help... I like them a lot, and this one, in particular is a good choice to start, given the Polish background - in Poland, complaining is a national sport! 

“BELOVED MIGHTY I AM PRESENCE”! You stand guard over my tongue, and never let me speak words of criticism, condemnation, judgment, or blame of any person, place, condition, or thing! Reach down Your Hand and withdraw all substance of criticism, condemnation, judgment, blame, or other human qualities with which I have charged into my being and world! Consume it all in The Cosmic Violet Consuming Flame and Saint Germain’s Spiral Blue Flame; then Stand Guard and see that I do not requalify any more of Your Pure Energy flowing through my being and world. "ALMIGHTY I AM”! (3)

Let us, then, use our words wisely, to the benefit of our own en-Light-enment and for the illumination of the world around us. Let us be the candles in the windows, the stars that shine bright up high. Let us radiate pure joy, peace, and tranquility. Let us fill our  hearts with the love that forgives all and understands all, and does not need to say anything, for it is, just is, always is and will be, as it never dies and never changes. And So Be It and So It Is...

Here are my Christmas and New Year Wishes for 2018:

Scarlet - for loving heart

Emerald - for peaceful mind

Diamond - for clear insight

Here are the rose jewels for

Happy Holidays and New Year! 

I spent some time with my poetry books this year, updating two books, and working on things that are still unfinished. For those who would like to see what  I have written, here are the links and covers:

http://moonrisepress.com/into-light-by-maja-trochimczyk.html

http://moonrisepress.com/the-rainy-bread-by-maja-trochimczyk.html

http://poetrylaurels.blogspot.com/2014/07/finishing-line-press-to-publish-slicing.html

http://moonrisepress.com/meditations-on-divine-names-anthology-by-maja-trochimczyk.html

http://moonrisepress.com/chopin-with-cherries-anthology-by-maja-trochimczyk.html

http://moonrisepress.com/miriams-iris-by-maja-trochimczyk.html

The Spring... Ahhh, The Spring...

Here, The first day of spring. The Equinox. The day is as long as the night. From now on it will become longer until summer solstice in June. Ancient Persians celebrated it with the holiday of New Year, the Norooz, Nowrooz, or Nowruz in English. On the night before, they had a large bonfire and they jumped over the flames. The moment of passing through the flames was the moment of purification. The fire burned all evil in the past, all bad things, bad thoughts, bad emotions: the horrors, the failures, the hurts. Sins and regrets. Evil burden of rocks carried in the sack on our backs. The fire strengthened the spirit with new life-force, energy, pure light. It destroyed the evil past of dark shadows and gave birth to the light-filled future. Persians do it now, too. It is pre-Islamic custom, from an ancient Zoroastran religion, where forces of darkness and light always fought in the world, in people's souls and minds.

burn, burn, burn

darkness into light

 white fire

Cherry Tree by Maja Trochimczyk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvDxBt9RVKs

Ancient Slavic peoples, including Poles, also had this custom, this ritual of jumping over the fire - only it was held at Summer Solstice in June, on the shortest night of the year. Once I learned about the Persians, I understood why. But I never did that, I'm afraid of fire. I'm not a jumper. Not a sports person, either, except for swimming and sailing. I'd love to have a sailboat on a lake, somewhere. Not on the ocean. I do not like salty water. I do not trust the ocean, I'm afraid of tsunamis. That's why I bought a house in the mountains, on high ground.

drowning

in an ocean of tears

dreams of sweet water

All religions have this element of purification, cleansing the soul, healing in the spring. New light, new life. Freedom and joy. In Christianity we have the sacrament of baptism (I was baptized as an adult, so I remember clearly the moment of passing through from darkness to light), the confession (that one is scary, with so many corrupt priests), the Mass and eating light-filled bread (my favorite), and the yearly calendar of rituals - Christmas, the birth of light at Winter Solstice, and Easter, the triumph of light at Spring Equinox.

sun rises

a round loaf of bread

in pre-dawn sky

Constant Return I by Julian Stanczak (1965)

line follows line
gravitational waves
bend cosmos

In a Japanese religion, or spiritual practice of Sukyo Mahikari, the Carriers of Light, people use light to heal each other. The centers of the palms of your hands emit healing light, pure energy that can be directed at someone's head or body, various "knots" of toxic thoughts, toxins in the body. The light dissolves the knots, purifies. The palms tingle a bit when you do it. I went to a spiritual center several times and was purified in this way. I had lots of "knots" to disentangle, lots of toxins to remove, a lifetime of hurt.

I give you

light filled with light

what else?

If pink wasn't pink

would you 

wake up, still? 

Ambika Talwar, Susan Rogers, Lois P. Jones and Maja Trochimczyk

Susan Rogers, a friend who is a member of this group, is a great poet. In our group, called the Spiritual Quartet and active for a while, we used to call her a "hummingbird" - for she constantly flickers around, is always in motion, always busy. We also had Lois P. Jones, the fiery "phoenix" reborn from the flames of self-destruction, and Taoli-Ambika Talwar, the proud and royal "peacock" (the bird is a national symbol of India, her home country).

birds scatter

feathers dance

on spring breeze

Who am I? My friends called me a "dove"  of gentleness, serenity, and love. I wrote so many love poems, and read them with such affection, I'm just filled with love, or so it seems... But the Dove is also the Holy Spirit, also the bird that Noah sent from his Arc three times to find dry land after the flood. Two times, it came back with nothing, but the third time it brought back a twig of green, for peace, for the end of the flood, for the spring.

above waves

a dove shines green

in sunlight

mirror says

to the sky

I win

orange cup

of nectar 

verdant dream

_______________________

Meanwhile... I went to the Colliding Rhymes Poetry Reading organized by a fellow Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga, Joe DeCenzo. It was on March 16, at the McGroarty Arts Center, in Tujunga, a part of their Arts at Play Festival. I heard some of my most favorite poets - Sean Hill, a hip-hop artist with a heart of gold and the most astounding mouth capable of making sound effects and reciting a whole segment of hip hop, without a single curse!

Then, there was the surreal Just Kibbe, with his text-message-acronym poetry book and the ibis portrait, Jessica Wilson and Juan Cardenas, the bohemian lovebirds - a poetess and her flutist - and Neil McCarthy, still straight from Ireland, and still in his torn jeans and sandals... For this reading, Justin Kibbe repainted his car yellow - for sun, for Sunland - and asked poets to write on it. Here's my poem, based on a saying by Britta Muehlbach of Phoenix House.

Britta says:

"I fearlessly speak

my truth with love"

I smile, in silence

And here's another very short poem... that I saw, but did not write. I like it. We are what we do, after all...

Tulips in Descanso (FB Album)

Joy in Red, White and Blue

Last year, I decorated a silver convertible in blue letters, silk roses, and flags to ride in the parade. My daughter brought her new favorite toy, vuvuzela (or zuzuvela? - I can never remember the name of this infernal noise maker). We stocked the car with postcards and candy and rolled through the town. The Poet Laureate's crew consisted of: the inspired poet of light, Susan Rogers; my favorite USC Viterbi Chemical Engineering Student, Ania (the best in her department, who just graduated with the Order of Troy and a Ph.D. Scholarship to UC Berkeley); and translator/producer extraordinaire, Elizabeth Kanski.

We wore colorful scarves I had bought in Washington, D.C., and we had so much fun! There were horses, classic cars, firemen, dirt bikes, clowns, civic groups, scouts - and everyone who was not marching in the parade, watched it from the sidelines. Thanks to the Rotary Club's efforts and Ellis Robertson's leadership, we'll have our parade again. Hurrah to Sunland and Tujunga! (I live in Sunland and these are two different little towns in my mind...)

This year, the decorations are not yet done, the poems to give away are not yet printed, but I have a little poem to share, with the best wishes to everyone who truly celebrates the joy of independence, that is the essence of the Fourth of July.

We live in a land of limitless possibilities. Let's be grateful for all our gifts. Our parade goes down the Foothill Blvd., from Mt. Gleason and Summitrose, to Sunland Park. It starts at 10 a.m. See you in the parade!


The Color Guard

Above the hills' crooked spine, clouds dissolve
into the azure. A red rose lazily unfolds its petals.

Mr. Lincoln blossoms by the birch tree,
glowing with the innocence of lost summers.

White bark hides among green leaves.
pale oleander spills over the picket fence,

shines against the deepest blue of the iris.
Its yellow heart matches sunshine's gold

bouncing off the brilliant sphere of stamens
in the bridal silk of matilla poppies.

My garden presents the colors at noon
dressed in the red, white and blue of the flag.

At night, fireworks tear the indigo fabric
into light ribbons and multicolored sparks.

The visual cacophony echoes the loudness
of sound explosions imagined by

that quaint musical genius, Charles Ives.
The orderly march of brass anthems

scatters into the chaos of laughter -
a child's delight - the Fourth of July.





And here's a link to the astounding piece by Charles Ives that I mention in the poem, the best Fourth of July celebration I have ever encountered.

Charles Ives (1874-1954) - The Fourth of July (Third Movement of A Symphony: New England Holidays, 1904-1913)

I do not have the time to dig into my class notes about this piece (my favorite for both music appreciation and history survey classes). Here's the note posted on YouTube by "inlandempires" with the recording:

"A parade of Americana with thematic nods to such popular tunes as Columbia the Gem of the Ocean, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Battle Cry of Freedom, and Yankee Doodle. Probably the most complex and fascinating of the four movements of the "Holidays" Symphony, Ives's Fourth of July takes metrical and motivic play to its outer limits. Commenting in his Memos, Ives wrote, "I did what I wanted to, quite sure that the thing would never be played, although the uneven measures that look so complicated in the score are mostly caused by missing a beat, which was often done in parades. In the parts taking off explosions, I worked out combinations of tones and rhythms very carefully by kind of prescriptions, in the way a chemical compound which makes explosions would be made."

Happy Fourth of July!