The Dewdrop
THIS WEEK'S BLOG
Rainer Maria Rilke – A Walk
In this short and inspiring poem, Rilke asks what beckons us towards ideal states and what value does the search provide?
‘Flecks of Foam on the Boar’s Mouth’ – Marcus Aurelius on Everyday Magic
The Roman Emperor and philosopher on mortality, change, nature and the importance of paying attention to the small and beautiful details.
Danusha Laméris – Stone
Danusha Lameris’ poem Stone invokes the turning towards a way of being, a focused, cherishing attending.
Writing Workshops
INTERVIEWS/PODCAST EPISODES
Arvilla Fee – A Serengeti Cornfield
Lawrence Bridges – Dry Iris
Christine Andersen – uncluttered
Want More?
Pigs in Winter
BY QUINCY MCMICHAEL
Snow is water, and water conducts electricity, but the electric fence will not fire as usual, buried three feet deep.
Observed by Deer
BY SARA MCAULAY
I’ve come here for raptors. Left my campsite at dawn, hiked down through blue shadows to the meadow.
MICRO GALLERY
Adam Powers – Relative
Adam Powers’ understated photographs draw out beauty from the forgotten corners of urban and commercial landscapes.
My True Home is Brooklyn
BY TRACY COCHRAN
What going on a spiritual retreat with your child can teach you about mindfulness the hard way.
Now and Then
BY CAMILLE GOODISON –
Rediscovering the strength and joy in a family’s legacy, and appreciating the similarities and differences.
FEATURED AUTHORS AND POETS
BOOK EXCERPTS
Want More?
The Full Awareness of Breathing
In the Anapanasati Sutta, the Buddha presents a visceral kind of practice with the breath, that illuminates the experience of joy, calm and impermanence.
The Self is Tied to This Body Like an Ox to a Cart
One of the most well-known sections of the Chandogya Upanishad is the story of Indra, King of the Gods, Virochana King, of the Godless and their encounter with the sage Prajapati.
Each Breath One Takes is a Step Towards One’s Destiny
Teachings about the cultivation of wisdom by the Sufi Master and the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin, Hadrat ‘Alî.
The Buddha’s Last Teaching: Be Your Own Island, Your Own Refuge
The Buddha’s final words of advice to his students before he died were to take refuge in the dharma and in themselves.
Dogen’s Seal of the Ocean: How Meditation and Life Can Flow Like Water
Japanese Zen Master Eihei Dogen invokes an oceanic state of non-identification as something that expresses the true Dharma, or our true nature, according to the teachings of Buddha.
THE ALAN WATTS CORNER
Running With Life: Alan Watts on Freedom and Poverty
Alan Watts unpacks the imperative not to hold on to things, but to adopt a kind of psychological poverty—or simplicity— in which the mind is clear and unfettered in a way that allows it the space for true spontaneity.
Alan Watts and Divine Play
Alan Watts delves into one of his favorite and recurring subjects – the way in which we over-identify with the parts we play.
What Have You Left Out? Alan Watts on the Limits of Perception
Alan Watts often said that in order to come to your senses, you have to get out of your mind. Watts was emphatic about self-realization and breaking through cultural and psychic barriers in order to live as a fully-fledged, fearless human being.
Brahman, God, Allah and the Tao – Alan Watts
Among Alan Watts’ most compelling qualities was his fascination with different systems of faith and his
Why I Write: Kurt Cole Eidsvig
Kurt Cole Eidsvig digs into motivation, poetic strategies, and the mystery of where the arrows of our intentions land.
A Fire Runs Through All Things: Susan Murphy on How We Can Meet the Climate Crisis
An interview with Susan Murphy about her new book and what koan practice can teach us about engaging the climate crisis.
Enlightenment is an Accident – Tim Burkett on How to Be More Accident Prone
Tim Burkett on enlightenment, meditation, and the balance of traditional and contemporary practices.
Engaging in Compassionate Action: Pamela Ayo Yetunde
A conversation with Pamela Ayo Yetunde about spirituality, interconnectedness, and the need to foster understanding and compassion in today’s world.
Why I Write: Jenna Wysong Filbrun
In the wake of her new collection, Away, we reached out to poet Jenna Wysong Filbrun to find out more about her motivations and process.
Why I Write: Christian Dillo
Christian Dillo on a contemporary Zen approach to awakening and what meaningful transformation actually looks like.
THE BEATS
BROWSE BY THEME
MYSTICS
Eighteen Thousand Universes Through Eighteen Thousand Eyes
The Sacred is the Everyday – Joan Chittister
Thomas Merton on Solitude, Authenticity and Being
Gurdjieff and The Two Rivers
Blinded by the Sun – St Teresa of Avila
“Don’t Tell Me Who I Am Yet. It Is Still Being Spelled Out”
Kabir – The Moon Shines in my Body
Rumi’s Guest House
POPULAR READS
BROWSE SUBJECTS
FROM THE ZEN GARDEN
Kashiana Singh – Unknowing
Kashiana Singh closes out our year here at The Dewdrop with simplicity, wisdom, and quietude with her string of haiku, “Unknowing”.
Joshua St. Claire & Amber Winter – Out Into the Light
Poets Joshua St. Claire and Amber Winter weave together a collaborative duet, offering a traditional kasen renga with “Out Into the Light”.
Wallace Fong – I Am
Singapore-based poet and academic Wallace Fong proclaims the unity of all things in his simple mantra-like “I Am”.
Erika Seshadri – Eviction Notice
As gently as the narrator of the poem relocates a spider, Erika Seshadri carefully places her quiet poem “Eviction Notice” at our feet.
Nancy Hamilton – The Door Opened
Nancy Hamilton’s enlightening poem “The Door Opened” revels in the glory of openness and emptiness, and overcoming illusions.
Steve Fay – turnings: a suite of poems
Steve Fay’s “turnings: a suite of poems” is something special, a sequence of earthy fragments tumbling down the page like detritus.
Adam Jon Miller – anthology
Adam Jon Miller offers readers a peek at a part of series of poems inspired by the ancient Chinese poets with his “anthology”.
Jerrice J. Baptiste – Spicy Buddha
With Zen-like simplicity, poet Jerrice J. Baptiste invites us to a seat at her table with the delectable “Spicy Buddha”.
Christian Ward – Heron, Returning
Poet Christian Ward’s heron, which serves as his poem’s centerpiece, weathers the turmoil of life, awaiting much-needed change.
Susan Coultrap-McQuin – Sunday Morning at the Cabin Up North
Poet Susan Coultrap-McQuin shows us nature’s sacredness with her poem “Sunday Morning at the Cabin Up North”.
David Cravens – American Zen
David Cravens’ epic poem “American Zen” counts as one of the more ambitious works ever published in The Dewdrop.
Lina Buividavičiūtė – A Housewife’s Opus Magnum
Lithuanian poet Lina Buividavičiūtė’s prose poem “A Housewife’s Opus Magnum” reveals a holiness discovered in simplicity and domesticity.
KEEP READING
The Expression of a Better World – Anaïs Nin on Transience and the Painful, Familiar Beauty of Music
Anaïs Nin on music, mortality, and what it is to glimpse a joyful vision of a land from which we came and which we have forgotten.
Outer and Inner Ecologies: Activist Satish Kumar on the Importance of Seeing Our Own Divinity
If we cannot see the fact of our own divinity and nurture that most immediate light, we can break down and burn out before we are able to effect any change.
Chris Abani on the Balance and Patience of West African Beauty
In West African thought, beauty surpasses the principles of symmetry and perspective and instead goes deep into the balance of being itself.
Letting the Old Thrills Die: C.S. Lewis on Being Alive to New Joy
Holding on to what is thrilling to us can be stifling and prevent us from paving the way for new experiences.
Working With the Soul Nerve – Resmaa Menakem on Grounding Our Bodies
Starting with the damage done by racism to human bodies, Resmaa Menakem presents a pragmatic approach to healing through the body.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Life Includes All Opposites – Alan Watts on the Oneness of the Tao
The psychology of acceptance and the understanding ‘that there is only one ultimate reality or source of activity in the universe.’
The Sacred Pulse of Night and Day
Deborah Eden Tull explores the experience of darkness and how it can be a transformative and expansive human experience.
‘An Appropriate Response’: Christian Dillo on the Nature of Buddhist Wisdom
What is wisdom? How can what we know get in the way of true wisdom? How can we express wisdom in a chaotic and unpredictable world?
Like Silt in a Flowing Stream – May Sarton on Solitude and Clutter
May Sarton’s Journal of a Solitude is the upshot of a journey into herself, into simplification and self-examination.
E.E. Cummings – Let It Go—The
E.E. Cummings reflects on the necessity of clearing, of letting go of the things we cling to, in order to make way for love.
Normal Days – A Tribute to the Ordinary From the Far Edge of Life
After a glioblastoma diagnosis, Tallu Schuyler Quinn wrote about what dying meant to her body, mind and heart in this series of moving essays.
In the Name of the Stranger – Pádraig Ó Tuama on the Language of The Troubles
Poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama reflects on the use of the word ‘trouble’ in Irish language, and its relationship to grief and mourning.
John O’Donohue on Soul Friendship
Ancient Celtic tradition upheld soul-friendships and the potential for inner growth that they teased out.
Welcome to The Dewdrop! This little journal is a digest of reflective and powerful writing focused on reading, writing and being. Scroll on for poetry, essays, book excerpts and classic texts.
Jenna Wysong Filbrun – Lost Creek Wilderness (Communion)
Jenna Wysong Filbrun’s “Lost Creek Wilderness (Communion)” is both an ode to wilderness and to the sacredness inherent in it.
Arvilla Fee – A Serengeti Cornfield
Seasoned with gratitude and appreciation, the imagery evoked in Arvilla Fee’s “A Serengeti Cornfield” sticks to the ribs.
Lawrence Bridges – Dry Iris
Renowned poet Lawrence Bridges reveals the juxtaposition or balance of light and dark in his poem “Dry Iris”.
My True Home is Brooklyn
BY TRACY COCHRAN
What going on a spiritual retreat with your child can teach you about mindfulness the hard way.
Christine Andersen – uncluttered
In a relentless, materialistic, and exhausted world, Poet Christine Andersen heralds an era of inward and outward simplification.
Rainer Maria Rilke – A Walk
In this short and inspiring poem, Rilke asks what beckons us towards ideal states and what value does the search provide?
Bilal Hafeez – Catching My Breath
Poet Bilal Hafeez’s tremendous piece “Catching My Breath” is a luminous work woven with yellow threads of sunshine and impermanence.
‘Flecks of Foam on the Boar’s Mouth’ – Marcus Aurelius on Everyday Magic
The Roman Emperor and philosopher on mortality, change, nature and the importance of paying attention to the small and beautiful details.
Tsultrim Nyi-O – Silence
Buddhist practitioner and chaplain Tsultrim Nyi-O offers readers a selection of Zen haiku tidbits, which leave us transcendent.
Danusha Laméris – Stone
Danusha Lameris’ poem Stone invokes the turning towards a way of being, a focused, cherishing attending.
Kashiana Singh – In Samadhi
The Dewdrop is honored to publish the meditative haiku sequence “In Samadhi” by poet and speaker Kashiana Singh.
Ashley Capps – Kindly
Love of life is the animating force behind all living things; each moment we decide to give or withhold love is an emergency for someone.
David Whyte – The Opening of Eyes
Whyte’s poem of clear seeing: the experience of holiness is the very ground that is under our feet.
Sarah Banks – Zinnia
Poet and gardener Sarah Banks revels in the sacredness of a blooming flower in “Zinnia”, the first poem published by The Dewdrop this spring.
‘How Can I Best Serve the World?’: Brother David Steindl-Rast on Finding Our True Vocation
Brother David on doing what you love, being aware of your gifts, and bringing your best self to the table.
Khrystia Vengryniuk – Selections from “About My Old White Drake”
Celebrated Ukrainian poet Khrystia Vengryniuk offers three selections from her upcoming poetry collection, About An Old White Drake.
Laura McDermott Matheric – Flame and Draft
The sultry lines of Laura McDermott Matheric’s poem “Flame and Draft” burn and flicker with devotion and passion.
Why I Write: Kurt Cole Eidsvig
Kurt Cole Eidsvig digs into motivation, poetic strategies, and the mystery of where the arrows of our intentions land.
Brandon James O’Neil – The Encounter
Holiness is found hidden in surprising places, even in the midst of bustling urban confines, in Brandon James O’Neil’s poem “The Encounter”.
Teddy Macker – This World
We will find life intoxicating; we’ll yearn to commune with its beauty, and we’ll also get utterly wrung out by it all and lose our way.