Inspiration for the Spirit

A lovely place to wander for poetry and inspiration to soothe the soul

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October Morning Rain

by Sally Boland

walking in the rain

The leaves dulled out this year, too dry to make scarlets or flashing golds, and so this rain strips them off quick, quicker than a knife scales a ... Read more

Filed under cancer.

One Hand

by Susan Dane Setin

The sound of one hand clapping is not silence. It is tears. Love wishing itself against the closed fist. Grace reigning a world against its will. The ... Read more

Filed under love lost.

Parallel

by Susan Dane Setin

marsh

The dead are never really dead. Their world runs parallel, half here, half not, a double exposure. We box up life for our convenience, but they come ... Read more

Filed under spirit.

Perpetual Present

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

I try to memorize him with the soft pads of my fingertips. Closing my eyes and slowly tracing the cheekbone's rise and gleam the moist, fragile skin ... Read more

Filed under sex & sexuality.

Peru

by Susan Dane Setin

If you want to hear the mountains, do exactly as I say. There are rules to things like this. And I tell you that many have come this way more than ... Read more

Filed under mountains, places.

Poem for My Father

by Virgil Suárez

At night, long after the midnight movies which I stayed up to see, what little nudity they dared show, I also wrote my poems, my stories, in teen-age ... Read more

Filed under father, relationships.

Poem Push

by Susan Dane Setin

female at table writing

I hurry home. A poem is coursing through me, pressing against the competition. Cadence sure. A sweet aroma wafting. I follow it, letting my nose ... Read more

Filed under writing.

Poppies

by Christine Magee

I moved with her in her shadow, always running behind, keeping in perfect step with her mood, trying to usher her out into daylight so that I could ... Read more

Filed under family, mother.

Professor Penguin

by Terry Stephen Driscoll

The tell tale rasp of scuffing corduroy; An unavoidable corrosion of inner trouser thigh, Effortlessly drowning a soft shoe bounding, With knowledge ... Read more

Filed under people.

Returning

by Terry Stephen Driscoll

Think not of simple seasons As friends depart your side The sight of brown and amber leaves Means not a tree has died It's roots still burrow deep ... Read more

Filed under friendship, seasons.

Shadow Over the Shanty

by Terry Stephen Driscoll

old man

Tell us a tale oh swan of the sea, With your wind sweeping feathered white hair, A beard that has harboured the salts of the earth, And hands, by the ... Read more

Filed under people.

Shell Free

by Susan Dane Setin

egg in a bed of feathers

Ten thousand pecks they say to break the shell and wiggle free, wide-eyes blinking. Nothing to be done to hurry things. It needs 10,000 pecks to build ... Read more

Filed under life.

Slow Down the Years

by Christine Magee

I barely have time to catch my breath For the years pass by so quickly now. I hardly see changes in seasons As I used to, somehow. Spring takes long ... Read more

Filed under aging.

Snow

by Susan Dane Setin

lamplight on snowy night

There is something strange about snow. And how the space between the large wet flakes gets filled in with Paris. At two a.m. I open the shutters and ... Read more

Filed under winter.

Song Unsung

by Susan Dane Setin

violets

My mother traveled long to mother me: through her small life with no doll or braids, She'd hang her sock on Christmas eve, but wake to motherless ... Read more

Filed under family, mother.

Taffeta Torn Through

by Susan Dane Setin

pensive ballerinas

We look for strong arms to carry us. None forthcoming. Or they come and go and leave us more depleted in the going. We look to find ourselves in the ... Read more

Filed under being female.

The Arches of Waterloo

by Terry Stephen Driscoll

homeless man

It's London and it's 3am, I've stopped to spare a thought for them, Some once husbands, Some once wives, All once captains of their ... Read more

Filed under poverty.

The Couple

by Susan Dane Setin

Uncoupled. He moving on without her through the glass clockworks to a place where no looking back can see anything. She living in the same ... Read more

Filed under divorce.

The Dance

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

". . . the question is not, Why are we so infrequently the people we want to be? but rather, Why do we so infrequently want to be the people we really ... Read more

Filed under love.

The First Anniversary

by Christine Magee

wine, candy, and flowers

He was very late home that evening but the food would come to no harm, it was just a salad, two steaks to grill. Annoyance crept into her calm. He'd ... Read more

Filed under love.

The Hand

by Terry Stephen Driscoll

sad woman

The hand that punched her face with force That ripped her hair from painful roots That grasped her throat in throttling rage That pushed the knife ... Read more

Filed under abuse.

The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It ... Read more

Filed under love.

The Moment Before

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

I want to touch the sharp taste of the moment in between the second just before the place where the breath catches in anticipation. It's the scent of ... Read more

Filed under sex & sexuality.

The Secret Garden

by Susan Dane Setin

Men seek war as women seek birth. The two places where all the merchandising stops. The ordinary screeches to a halt. What remains is one tenuous ... Read more

Filed under life.

The Snowball

by Christine Magee

For a long time he had opened his shirt and shown his scar, but they'd walked through it. He could taste their pity, acrid on his tongue and wanted to ... Read more

Filed under Christmas, people, poverty, winter.

The Tea Party

by Susan Dane Setin

tea party on a cupcake

When the conversations were over, when it no longer served you to pay attention as if I mattered —for I had once so mattered— we put the fire out, and ... Read more

Filed under love lost.

The Vision

by Susan Dane Setin

Art comes first as gift, wild, free and liberating. You think you're going to soar and soar you do. But angels have been known to rip apart a man's ... Read more

Filed under art.

This Gathering of Poets

by Terry Stephen Driscoll

garden path

In these our perfect gardens kept, With verdant minds compose, Our poetry to scrutiny, We graciously expose. Where we 'the poets' gather strong, In ... Read more

Filed under writing.

True Wealth

by Terry Stephen Driscoll

I guess it's all over. Our marriage has failed. I'm sorry I'm not what you thought you had nailed. No need to get dirty in times of divorce, You say ... Read more

Filed under divorce.

Twyla

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

At her kitchen table sharing tea in the pale morning I ask the widow, "How long were you married?" And she replies, "I am married. Though my husband ... Read more

Filed under love, people.

Venice

by Terry Stephen Driscoll

Venice

Palaces of pleasure stand like Timeless birthday cakes parading, Harlequins and histories In February masquerading, Gargoyles decorating ... Read more

Filed under love, places.

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Welcome
Inspiration for the Spirit is all about love—not only romantic love, but also love for our fellow man, loving life and its many wonders and, most importantly, the love of self that comes when you are truly content with the person you are ... Read more
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In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. —Buddha
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Beginnings

love tree It had been a pivotal year for me. A bad breakup early on had left me feeling fragile and fragmented and looking inward for answers ... Read more

 

The Simplicity of Tea

tea

When I drink tea, there is only me, and the tea. The rest of the world dissolves. There are no worries about the future. No dwelling on past mistakes. ... Read more

The Language of Flowers

During the Victorian era, people often gave each other flowers and used the "language of flowers" (sometimes called floriography) to express feelings ... Read more

Native American Wisdom

Native American chiefs

The Great Spirit is in all things: He is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our father, but the Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us; that ... Read more

Sign My Guestbook

guestook

One of the first things you discover when you put an inspirational website online, is that a lot of people will write to you. ... Read more

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