For September’s Spiritual Journey posts, Ramona asked us to consider her One Little Word, rhythm.
When I think of rhythm, I hear whatever anthem our choir sang on Sunday. This week the earworm is How Can I Keep from Singing, which wasn’t a hymn or anthem, but Zi, our director, played it as an instrumental on the piano. It has stayed with me.
I love to listen to sacred music when I am playing with collage. I have a discarded hymnal that I tear pages from. Sometimes the lines show through. Playing with collage has given me a feeling of freedom in creativity. I don’t worry about perfection at all. I select elements that please me.
I’ve made junk journal pages and postcards for poetry exchanges. I made the postcards by recycling canned drink boxes. I don’t feel precious about them. They will go into the mail and may get eaten or bent by the journey, and it doesn’t matter to me. I think there is a lesson in this kind of creating. Something sacred I am drawn to, a rhythm of peaceful dreaming.
Peace is an impractical word
playing well with others
like love
lingering in nature’s golden hours—
sunsets, rainbows…
Peace doesn’t always tell the truth.
Hang on to its tail
dangling like moss on Crepe Myrtle trees
in summer.Wishing can make it so.
Margaret Simon, draft
How do you feel sacred rhythm? Peace? Creativity?
I’m listening to the video song as I type this reply, and what a treasure! I have loved this song for years, but what a creative arrangement. There were some good things that came out of Covid, and this is one of them. I like your postcard collages and the recycling feel of new purpose for things. Have you read Braiding Sweetgrass? This reminds me so much of the life of resource. Have a great day, and be on the lookout for a postcard in your mailbox. I made fabric collage ones this month. Take care, Margaret!
Kim, I have read Braiding Sweetgrass and love that you made that connection. I look forward to your postcard.
Beautiful collage! I love your attitude: “I don’t worry about perfection at all. I select elements that please me.”
And then there’s the sacredness connected with this rhythm and creation. I can hear your music and see you creating!
Sometimes we spend so much time worrying that something isn’t right or that we need to make a little change before it is complete that we never finish what was started. I like your “don’t worry” outlook. If you are pleased with the outcome, other will be also.
Margaret, I spy our bunny in your collage and am thinking of the peace and rhythm that flows from a silent creature moving through the world –and that flows from spying it. 🙂
Margaret, the music you shared was fabulous, especially since everyone was singing from their homes. I guess that was one gift from being isolated for so long. The rhythm of that group of musicians and singers lasted beyond COVID. How splendid. I love how you are creating your collage work and truly believe in something sacred that you are drawn to. A rhythm of peaceful dreaming must bring you to a calming state. I know that my time is locked into paper clutter and medical appointment for my son and me but I do wish for an afternoon of creating. May you continue to add beauty in the world with your music, artwork, and poetry. Retirement has given you a new chapter of life.