There's a Crack in the Dam (photo & thoughts)

after taking this shot and looking at it over and over again, i was struck by its metaphorical value.  there is a crack in the dam.  in every dam.  in each of our dams!  anyone who focuses on "being strong" and accepting the many lumps that life serves up will understand me here.

we build up our dams to hold our swell of  emotion and sorrow and doubt and fear.  for the most part the dam does its job.  it holds our secret pains so well that few would suspect our inward state.  but, there's always a crack.  there's always a day that comes like a nightmare and causes our waters to spill out.  a day that makes us face our secret sorrows and feel them and watch them slip through the cracks.

in my experience those days are both freeing and consuming.  i spend those days with tears creeping through the cracks of my own dam.  but i spend those nights thankful for the crack.  thankful for the opportunity to lay down my armor and allow my strongest walls to be penetrated.  thankful to have shed the tears that lay generally dormant within my heart. 

my first thought while taking the shot was that the dam needed fixed...look at this crack.  my thoughts now are that the dam is as it should be.  every great wall must have its crack.  every ocean must find its rivers to break into.  nothing was meant to hold everything inside.  not me.  not you.  i am so thankful for our strength and our frailties.  they must go hand in hand.  they cannot be divorced.  amen!

**photo & writing are © amber brown.

if you like the photo, find it at: http://59teeth.imagekind.com/ in regard to the poetry you can follow me or you can contact me: 59teeth@gmail.com

Today I (photo & freewrite)

today i sat outside as the first rain drops

began to fall

leaving new, heavy, abstract markings

on the ash covered walkway

and i thought of you

this world of people that i do not know

and cannot seem to touch

or  even rightly feel

the drops fell faster:

heavier, larger, landed on my head

and still i thought of you

beautiful stranger

antagonizer of my days

force that moves my feet

i sat until my shirt was dotted

and today i thought of you

**photo & poetry are © amber brown.

if you like the photo, find it at: http://59teeth.imagekind.com/ in regard to the poetry you can follow me or you can contact me: 59teeth@gmail.com

Ripples & Stone (new photograph & freewrite)

i like water

swirling round stone

choose not my direction

but travel lone

bound to go

each place that i must

-go obediently

in both solitude & trust

that the stones

will feel my force

as i gently crash

and am changed in course

*today just felt like a freewrite day.  i feel just like that water: swirling round, crashing into, knowing not my aim.

**photo & poetry are © amber brown.

if you like the photo, find it at: http://59teeth.imagekind.com/ in regard to the poetry, contact me: 59teeth@gmail.com

Joyfully Bound

*I was taken by this image when I first saw it.  Since then I've been taken over and over and inspired by it.  Nature has a way of showing us how life really works and that is what this picture has led me to reflect on.  The different elements in this photo have been (over time) joyfully bound together: mountain, to root, to stone, to pine needles...all to present this picture.

**In my mind this mirrors life/us, in that we are bound (though sometimes not as seemingly joyfully) together as well in this life experience.  We are bound, seperate beings, into the same life picture.  That, my friends is a beautiful thing!!

***I'm curious as to the picture we will leave behind.  For the moment we are living: bound to this earth, to one another, to the very motion of life itself.  What will our picture be ultimately?  That's one of those questions that is as full of joy as the answer may be.  It thrills my intellect that none of us know or can come even close to comprehending our picture. 

****The mountain in its beginning had no thought/concept of the curved root that would become attached to it.  The root had no say in the pine needles that gathered round its curves.  The stones had no mind to place themselves.  We are very much like this: added onto without our knowing (daily), molding into without deciding,  gathering round what we had no thought to conceive.

These are the simple ramblings of a simple woman who is and will forever remain AMAZED, ENLIGHTENED, BLESSED by this life experience.  The journey/the mystery is as beautiful as the ending picture/answer.

photo & writing are © amber brown.

if you like the photo, find it at: http://59teeth.imagekind.com/ in regard to the poetry, contact me: 59teeth@gmail.com

Stretching (new photograph & poetry)

 

In Troubled Times

Night becomes day.

There is no break.

All is uncertain.

You pray; you wait.

And for that solid ground,

that sure place to stand,

you walk through the fire

and crawl on trembling land;

certain that surely

if hand keeps to plow,

light will be realized

and certainty found.

Poet’s Purpose

A daily poem

to ease the pain:

a gentle call

to bring forth rain,

the word of life

to understand

the fumbling, falling, and joy of man.

Listen

Everyone’s got a story.

Listen; hear your own.

We are pummeled.

We rise.

We are conquered.

We overcome.

We are healed

and made whole.

We are humbled

and undone.

Everyone’s got a story.

Listen; hear your own.

**as usual, i have tried to pick poetry that embodies the idea of "stretching" since that's the photo's title.  i believe in stretching ourselves as individuals for growth, understanding,  and acceptance in this confusing and unknowable world.  hope that you've enjoyed my thoughts...photos...work!

**photo & poetry are © amber brown.

if you like the photo, find it at: http://59teeth.imagekind.com/ in regard to the poetry, contact me: 59teeth@gmail.com

Reflection....(photo & poetry)

(The above photo is named "Reflection" so I have tried to follow it w/poetry that is also of a reflective nature!)


Pain Knows Not

Ego
cannot hear.
Emotion
cannot reason.
Pain
knows not
the changing
of the season.



Once

The light shines
into my little place.
I watch it and wonder
what time- what space?
Where might I end up?
Who might I be
-once the dust has all settled
and I’ve learned how to see.



In This Life

Dreams are lost
and whole worlds found.
None can adequately
tell this tale.
We are only flashes
and flickers
of some light
that cannot fail,
simple clouds
passing through
so many oceans
of sky;
the very smallest
of flames
in the greatest
of fires.

Since words
cannot say
and no hand
correctly write,
the tale must
tell itself
and only thus
be told right!


**photo & poetry are © amber brown.
if you like the photo, find it at:http://59teeth.imagekind.com/ in regard to the poetry, contact me:59teeth@gmail.com

Drifting (photo & philosophy

(I was talking with my boss a few nights ago (over wine) about politics, society, history...humanity as a whole. The conversation has stayed w/me since. I drove and took pics and this particular one (above) brought me back to our conversation. So, I have decided to write about it:)


*I do not think that we are evolving. I know that's not what science, and pride, and society want us to think but if we look at the facts, It is simply not true.

*For the scientist, electricians, developers, etc....who would argue that we are where/achieving what no one has done before: let me remind you who we are. We are simply one display of life among millions. Stars have been hung. Planets have been aligned. We are not (certainly not) the end all be all of creation. We are one very simple, very small part of an entire creation/existence that we cannot understand. (If you try to tell me that you do understand the whole, not only will I come no where near believing you; I will think you're a fool)

*I say that we are in fact de-evolving. We are much further from where humanity started. I say this because we earnestly know no more (less, even) than humanity ever has. I say it because we are less (far less) healthy than humans ever began. We're out of shape and sickly...dying of our causes as opposed to only natural ones. I say this because in general we are much, much, farther from the original joy of life. We are slaves to both entertainment and obtainment.

*If you are a believer/Christian ( which I was raised and chose to be for some time), I'll present it to you like this: Adam and Eve took humanity on the path to sin by eating the forbidden fruit from "the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil," right? What made that tree so horribly bad? Christians have discussed this forever. I propose that He/God did not want them to eat from that tree because He knew its fruit was a LIE. Now that the fruit was eaten, we all know the difference between right and wrong, right? NO!

*This is where I'll go back to saying it my way: We think we know the difference between right and wrong. I think that we are wrong about that! We know nothing. Not only do we know nothing; our thinking that we do know so much has caused us to know even less. We have successfully dumbed ourselves down in an eager attempt at knowledge.

*Those are my views and I'm sticking to them. Like the photograph above, we are simply drifting on a sea of time (which we are no where near comprehending). Not evolving! Don't believe the hype. Lets debug ourselves!



photo & writing, © amber brown
(if you like the photo or the poem, contact me:
59teeth@gmail.com