Dan Sturn's Notebook - Writing.Com

Oct 8, 2013 at 9:46pm

I'm preparing for a quick, but spiritual, retreat next to an ocean. Have kept this a secret. Actually went so far as to put a bogus client engagement on my calendar so that all my co-workers and family think I have normal plans.

But instead, I'm planning to spend a week next to an ocean, in a condo right on the beach. I will disconnect. I have packed a stack of Norcomm College-ruled Spiral Notebooks . . . . the white page of my journals.

Nobody will know where I am, except my assistant.

Hopefully nobody will miss me.

My journal will be my only commitment. Everything else depends on whatever comes my way.

What poetry results, I can only be patient and wait to see . . . .

2 reactions • 3 comments

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Karen

Oct 9, 2013 at 8:41am

God bless you in your quest.

JenP

Oct 10, 2013 at 12:50pm

God Bless and I hope your adventure goes well.

JenP

Lobelia is truly blessed

Oct 10, 2013 at 4:18pm

*jealous*

Dan Sturn

Oct 3, 2013 at 10:24pm

One of my favorite Poets is Rumi. I love the way he changes subject in the middle of his Poetry, but then it turns out he's not really changing the subject. I like the total metaphorical nature of his Poems. One of my favorite Rumi Poems is Guest House (http://www.gratefulness.org/poetry/guest_house.htm).

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Karen

Oct 4, 2013 at 12:49pm

I'm not sure I agree with his philosophy, but the flow of his poem is good. I like the title in connection with the meaning of the poem. Thanks for sharing and expanding my horizons.

Helena Noel

Oct 7, 2013 at 9:32am

But honestly, its not that I dont agree that we should treat each 'guest' with honor even when thry are a""crowd of sorrows," its that I dont agree that a good reason for this is that their theft of ouf furnature could beba good thing. It seems so self centered. Sorta "Honor them because they might givw you something" or "let them walk over you in hopes they might *maybe* do something nice if you play kiss-up." I can understand that thought to a degree, if by guest he meant "every unexpected circumstance", but if he meant human people, the only acceptable reason is we are called to honor all people which, he seems to forget, includes ourselves.
Wow. I let myself drone on quite abit.

Dan Sturn

Oct 8, 2013 at 5:15pm

Helena and Karen,

Our agreeing or not with the Poem, in my opinion, illustrates "Multivalence"

(The phenomenon that art has different meanings to different people.)

I posit this after seeing how different my interpretation is from yours (though yours is totally legit and makes a lot of sense to me.)

But when I read this Poem, I think it's about the meditation process, the attempt to empty your mind. If "thoughts" are guests, they come in many different forms. Meditation instructors suggest that we treat all thoughts that enter during meditation with honor, to notice them for what they are (thinking), and to be grateful for them.

This just came to me:

I see my mind as my Mom's kitchen,
windows letting in the light of the world,
and sudden monsters appearing there,
mere thoughts, sometimes Poems.

But you two's perspective makes total sense as well, even though it is in the exact opposite direction of mine. Now that I read the Poem as if it is about people invading our space, I totally agree with your response. But when you look at it from the meditation perspective, the meaning is entirely different.

I love Multivalence!!

Dan Sturn

Dan Sturn

Sep 30, 2013 at 6:57pm

I am sorry. Those three words describe 2013. Nine people have died since my grandmother passed in January 2012.

I wrote a Poem for Grandma, "Summer's Fall"

. Actually it just came to me while journaling, but I sent it to her because I thought it reminded me of her, and she loved it.

It seems, now, to be more of a prophecy than a Poem.

Dan Sturn

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