IFF Breakfast: Be Reminded (03/11/20)

 Be Reminded

We go round again, in the stirrings of what we're being moved by, 

into the darkness of our truths.

We are missing, in the hills of our losses and in the springs of our coming transformations.

Be guided by the changes within your own nature, 

in the answers which impact how you forge your power.

Change requires a path of listening, 

amidst the waves of our collective uniqueness.

Time is the system of change in conversation with our deep connections, 

within lands and revolutions of thought and living.

Be reminded of the everything that you are, 

and be learning always the more that you are yet to become.

IFF Breakfast: Where The Heron Fish (06/10/20)

Where the Heron Fish 

Tap into the returning gap, 

with privileged attention to what makes you happy. 

Protect yourself from the insanity of thinking your way through the gloom. 

Empty yourself onto the ground of your tiredness, 

with the weather bleakly swirling through your possibilities. 

Stories are enough, when shared with people in touch with their human beauty.

The end is balanced between hope and acceptance, 

where your voice is heard, in all its frustration and disconnect. 

Collapse, walk beside the river where the heron fish. 

The hills are perched where you are gliding, touched by your small knowings. 

Hold the line; 

your agenda of unrelenting campaign for the reasonable, 

amidst systems of complexity. 

Shift, and feel deeply as you forge and witness your power.

IFF Breakfast: The Brave (01/09/20)

 The Brave

The brave are expecting beautiful transitions, 

from islands of remembering and forgetting, into balance and calm.

Reset the compass, reset your life, reset your imagination, 

and go where you exist, beyond your point of breaking and being.

Let the birdsong strike you, 

a reflection of your attuned needs and nature.

Look north, into the clear day between your aliveness and your richness.

The past is lost, embedded in the journey of who we are everyday, in space and time; 

the sun-centred griefs and celebrations of our lives.

Create, by patchworking and fitting into ways of togetherness, 

and shrouded singing into your calling.

Dedicate yourself to your story, 

the thread which knows what you are made of, 

which knows your hand, which knows your meaning.

Be, without resistance to your honouring; 

it rises as you tend to your power.

This is your part of the healing and purpose, 

be willing to flow out, forced anew into standing in your unknowingness.

Unravel into the answers and slow, downward spirals, 

until companionship and trust find you.

Let the storms unburden you, 

as you hear and speak both your falling apart and your holding together.

IFF Breakfast: Nothing Will Save Us Now (04/08/20)

 Nothing Will Save Us Now

Nothing will save us now, as we stand in the world of confusion and gathering.

There is a precise importance to fighting the weeks of fury,

from our irate anxieties, our inner peacemaking, and our travelling gladness.

Take your previous learning into deep time, until it makes sense,

and take your noticing into the battles for shifted boundaries.

Be the transition of days, focus on distinctions, connections and intentions;

moving into balance with your contribution and character.

Shield yourself from your trepidations, the actions you are not taking,

as you find your time of midnight and incredible strangeness.

Real life is holding us speechless, 

unattached to the support which is for us,

awaiting our making sense of our mind.

Know the work of surrender, the allowing of difference,

the challenging of uncomfortable dreams and lostness.

Be the pioneer of your own being, in the great tension of your refusals.

Throw your honesty, your beauty, and your principles into a neutral culture;

assume the answer that is grasping at your remembering,

the powerful ways in which you are real and absolute.

Watch from changed perspectives, 

living into the wishes and senses that amaze you into aliveness and potential.

Contribute your future boundaryless self, 

showing up in the space where your curiosity makes you a person of the land;

constantly in danger of being free.

IFF Breakfast: The Circle (30/06/20)

 The Circle

The circle is moving, finding its way into you,

indwelling within your land,

the places that you walk;

the brave miles of discovery.

Think about what is there to be looked upon;

the courage that is clearly calling from beyond our reach.

There is a promise, presenting the challenge of more, of virtue, 

of tracks connecting us to our values of disagreement.

The visions are history,

repeating the difficult lives where we have met before.

There is a well, into which we could journey;

to be in touch with the knowing that speaks up in our bleakest, darkest guilts.

Imagine your worth beyond the illusion of power, 

beyond the aspects of vulnerability and and certainty.

Speak your meaning... 

IFF Breakfast: An Evolution of Uniqueness (03/06/20)

 An Evolution of Uniqueness

The unfurling transition will survive,

as we gather in collaborative contrast,

within cycles of space, compassion and community.

Throw away the differences, switch off humility, 

in favour of the universal worthiness of life and quiet wonder.

Be a student of encouragement, meaning and child-like exploration; 

repeatedly evolving strategies of hopeful uniqueness.

Disrupt your history, 

until wellbeing resources an acute response of care, seeing and reflection.

Walk the streets with imagination, 

pausing at each and every cornerstone, 

explaining yourself to the forever that will follow your footsteps.

Enforce your own slavery, as a source of competence, leverage and agency; 

allow the untrapping of your instincts and human peacefulness. 

IFF Breakfast: The Trees Remember Who You Are (02/06/20)

 The Trees Remember Who You Are

Expect to be in service, 

meeting ever in a continuity of sense making, distance making and hopeful waiting.

Picture the anchoring ways that sit upon us, 

as we loosen our sails into nourished doing.

Touch your awareness, touch your human worth; 

this time of mirrored interactions that celebrate your relationships, 

with patience and alchemic robustness.

Give your regards to exercised voyages into qualities of darkness;

navigate instead by the turmoil in your pained heart and compassion.

Feel your nature, from your feet to the fallen limbs, 

that carry you into your evenings of clash and comfort.

Parallel your secret life, the forces which trust your ground, 

which compels you to find yourself in the fog of your lostness, 

until the trees remember who you are.

IFF Breakfast: 17.05.16 - Banana Choc Crepe & Inspiration

Poem Hunting - Falkland - 11/10/13

(a poem hunt with my mum!)

Paths laden with possibility,
Hidden trail - leading where?!!
To deer and to mystery
Travel on fox-feet
So many secrets here all around...
Trampling through fallen leaves
Acorns awaiting their destiny
Where are we going? Where have we been?
Over stumps and bracken,
Into mystery of mind.
Crunch, crunch, crunch,
go our footsteps,
In search of skeletons.
Burrow - hidden secrets inside
Dry riverbeds reveal mushrooms
Peer deeply to see
Blocked paths - which way to go?
We follow our instincts
to find our way.

(c) 2013

Time Marches On

Too often we are swept along,
Impulse driven, with little plan.
Mapless explorations yield few discernible discoveries;
Effort becomes a course well worth plotting.

Make the tiniest details a mindful measure of hours,
Awareness of place will anchor the days
Rambling explorations bring weeks to a meaningful crawl
Contemplate months without limits,
Hold seasons in the palm of your hand,
Emblazon wonder on every page of your journal,
See years fill the most weighty of tomes.

Overlap your decades with the decades of others,
Narrate your stories of a life well lived.

(c) Caren Gilbert

Superhero Me

Surging with power, I exist
Untouched by fear or angst
Purposeful in every action
Epic journeys my daily routine
Realisation of all dreams an effortless feat
Healing and creativity, my secret weapons
Every step would lead only to greatness
Rebellion and empowerment my lasting legacy
'Occupy everything' my battle call

My nemeses would be easily obliterated
Each time I wear my hero's cape

(c) Caren Gilbert

A Hero's Quest

Adventure into all that is unknown

Head into the forest of forbidden whys
Explore with playful curiosity
Retreat into the answers to be found
Observe nature until it speaks clearly
Stillness the only motion on this path

Quieten the drums in body and mind
Unknow all the things previously known
Explore with the wisest of unknowing
Silence the demons with brave heart
Travel until you hear your song

(c) Caren Gilbert

The Secret Lighthouse

Tidal depths call your name, over and over
Hope the only anchor in this storm of overwhelm
Each day brings waves of uncertainty, crashing anew

Shadows lurk in light and dark alike
Emptiness the only bounty of a solitary quest
Confidence ebbs low on hidden shores
Reassurance slips by in the shallows,
Effortlessly avoiding the seeker's cast
Time is needed to reflect in mirror-like stillness

Let silence be the sound which guides,
Intuition a beacon to illuminate the way
Gather your weariness and stride forth
Head always in the direction of your dreams,
Taking only the burdens you can carry
Hold fast when ill winds threaten to sway you
Open heart and mind to the bravest adventure
Unpack your troubles one by one, and stow them away
Sanctuary awaits all who journey
Every welcome arrival, a triumphant retreat

(c) Caren Gilbert

Let All Things Flow

Like fish, we swim in the stream of nature's laws,
Each day a reminder of the need for change.
The path we tread twists and turns to its own rhythm,

Agility of spirit is a skill for survival in this realm.
Lost and found will be neatly balanced in the final analysis,
Let truths spill freely from wounds of heart and mind.

Trust in letting go, in walking away, let release be.
Hope is the thing with feathers, not for clutching, but born to soar.
In the darkest hour, shine a light in the place where you cling, and believe;
Nets hang in the gloom, to catch any and all who fall.
Grief is the balm to soothe the knocks and dents of this life,
Sit with only tears for company until the melancholy is fully sated.

Find pleasure in the arrivals that follow every departure,
Let anchors steady you in the turmoil of existence.
Open your eyes, ears and heart to cosmic truths when they find you.
Wake up with questions and do not slumber until your answers are discovered.

(c) Caren Gilbert

Sorry Is The Hardest Word

Shadow-like, you hover at the edge of all things
Opportunities slip through your weary grasp, over and over
Repentance sticks in your throat, all things hard to swallow now.
Rehearsals fill your mind, for a performance unlikely to have an opening night
You search in vain for an understudy to take your mark.

I sit alone, front and centre, programme clutched to my heart
Shadow-like, I hover at the edge of all things.

Tomorrow would be better, awaiting some conjunction;
Heart, soul and mind must be in perfect alignment.
Echoes ebb at the shore, each tide eroding you.

Happiness is a game without rules to guide the players
Assembled in confusion, fate hanging on each roll of the dice
Repentance sticks in my throat, all things hard to swallow now.
Depression of all emotion becomes a black mask to fit any size
Emptiness, a chasm spectators fear to tread nearby.
Shadow-like, we hover at the edge of all things
Turbulence spews with each stone hurled into still waters.

Waiting for the heartfelt submission of the script our tears have drafted,
Opportunities slip through my weary grasp, over and over.
Repentance sticks in our throats, all things hard to swallow now.
Dusty curtains silently await this opening act.

Sorry is the hardest word.

(c) Caren Gilbert

Imagination

Impossible is the fuel for the grandest notions
Magnificence a worthy benchmark for the wildest dreams
Aspirations of the greatest adventures
Glorious endeavours await accomplishment
Incredible will be the theme for every day
No horizon or wisdom should go unexplored
Attention to beauty in each moment guides us onward
The path we tread will be mystery bound
Inspiration will be found at every turn
Opulence will be surplus to our needs
Normality shall forever elude our grasp

(c) Caren Gilbert

What The Future Holds

With adventurous heart, I set forth
Hopes packed tightly upon my shoulders
Apathy hoots from the wayside,
This is a journey some would rather I did not take

Time to step boldly, as never before
Hopes clutched tightly to my chest
Emptiness lies behind, carefully discarded in my wake

Fortune makes no promises to my fate
Uncertainty the only certainty I can rely upon
There is safety in not knowing, I realise.
Unseen, I prowl the edges, waiting for my moment
Retreat is the destiny which confounds me
Emptiness holds no fear for me now

Hopes raised humbly for all to behold
Oceans brim with graceful dreams
Lives breathless in anticipation
Desperation the only qualification required
Sanctuary calls my name and I and powerless to ignore

(c) Caren Gilbert

Earth, Wind, Fire, Water

Every stone which tumbles
Across this fragile land
Reverberates for all to hear,
The planet turns daily in its grave
Hopeful that the cycle will end

Wildest of storms are summoned
Intent on being a wake up call
Nobody seems to listen
Deafened by all consuming thought

Forged in the passions of stars,
Intricate connections are born
Rebellion surges in the hearts of the few,
Encouragement that the slumber ends

Whirlpools gather to excite spirits
Apathy is an option long lost now
Thunder claps and sparks draw attention
Each occupant seeks higher ground
Regret is futile after the storm

(c) Caren  Gilbert

The Voice In My Head

Thoughts lash at me with relentless barbs
Haunted by deeds and words past
Echoes of self resound in my mind

Victories hollow under scrutinous gaze,
Occupation is total under this regime.
Intentional amnesia a favourite ploy,
Cast certainty aside and dwell in the void
Endless ripples of doubt ebb at my shore

Inspiration comes and goes on treacherous tide
Noble intent becomes selfish in this charade

Mutiny is what this ship requires
Yet the crew is ever loyal to the insanity

Heroic indifference the only solution
Each and every moment of this mind control
Admiral to take on such formidable foe
Decades in the making

(c) Caren Gilbert

The Wisdom of Trees

The ancients await us
Hidden by verdant leaf
Ever patient, and ever hopeful.

We stride through woodlands
Intent on our destination
Searching always for the truths of life
Disappointment the only prize of that quest
Open hearted meandering beneath leafy boughs
Makes way for a knowingness to surface

Ordinary thought has no place amongst these roots,
Find your way to the tree which calls to you, and just sit

Temporarily suspend all other agenda
Recline against sturdy trunk and be still
Every tree awaits this precious communion,
Expectation hangs from every limb
Suspend disbelief and in that moment, ask for the wisdom of trees

(c) Caren Gilbert