Mastodawn

Two Windows

A Tanka Sequence

I

In the still morning
you open the window wide
beside the table.
A cool breeze stirs the orchid,
cooling my cup of coffee.

II

Across from your light,
I open the other pane.
The air grows stronger.
Leaves whisper into the room
like all the things left unsaid.

III

Below the hillside,
a woodpecker drums the trees,
red crest among leaves.
A car passes on the road,
then fades into the morning.

IV

The wind kisses me.
I think of you and of us:
two windows open,
facing different landscapes,
yet filled with a single breeze.

#autumnLeaves #Coffee #ContemplativePoetry #home #intimacy #JapanesePoetry #JapaneseSilkscreen #Listening #lovePoem #marriage #morningBreeze #naturePoetry #openWindows #orchid #Poetry #sacredOrdinary #SlowMover #SpiritualReflection #stillness #tanka #tankaSequence #TwoWindows #woodblockArt #woodpecker

Slow Mover May 28

Wet Prayer (A Tanka Poem)

Author’s Note: I have written haiku for many years. Heiwa Haiku has often been a spiritual practice for me. Recently I discovered tanka, another form of Japanese poetry, which, put simply, is haiku plus two additional lines. Haiku is generally written as three lines of 5-7-5 syllables respectively. Tanka uses the same format at the beginning and then adds two additional lines of 7 syllables each. The following is my first attempt at tanka. I am looking forward to further exploration and sharing of tanka poetry.

The morning is gray,
a soft rain is falling down.
I walk with head bowed,
watching the mist of my breath,
listening to the wet prayer. #autumnLeaf #breath #ContemplativePoetry #creationSpirituality #Haiku #JapanesePoetry #Mindfulness #mist #morningRain #naturePoetry #peace #Poetry #Prayer #Rain #sacredOrdinary #silence #SlowMover #SpiritualReflection #Stream #tanka #walkingMeditation #wetPrayer

Slow Mover May 20

WildWords – Trembling Leaves

It begins in obscurity,
in the graying of the light,
when the lilac leaves tremble
one by one,
like tiny green drums
kissed by wet hands.

I watch them
and know something of prayer:
not certainty,
not brightness,
not the approaching thunder of answer,
but this—
the dimming light,
the damp touch,
the fragile rhythm
of what remains alive
even when the whole world
seems to fade
at the edges.

And I,
quiet as the darkening earth,
learn again
that creation often prays
before it weeps,

that the body trembles
before the sorrow comes,
that even fear
can be a kind of listening

when the world wans
and the leaves begin
their soft percussion
under the subtle caress of rain.

#beforeTheStorm #ContemplativePoetry #Creation #forsythia #gardenReflection #Leaves #Mindfulness #naturePoem #poem #Poetry #Prayer #PrayerPoem #quietObservation #Rain #rainstorm #sacredOrdinary #simpleContemplation #SpiritualReflection #SpokenWord #TremblingLeaves #Weather #wildwords

Slow Mover May 10

At the Table in Thunder

Here now, late at night, alone at the table, I draw to the sound of thunder and the rattle of rain against the windows.

The house is dark except for this small pool of light. Outside, the world is being washed, struck, shaken. Inside, my hand moves slowly across the page, making marks no one has asked for, no one is waiting for, and yet somehow they feel necessary.

The thunder speaks in a language older than words. The rain answers in thousands of small syllables. And I, with my pen, add my thin human line to the chorus.

Perhaps this, too, is prayer: not asking, not explaining, not performing. Just being awake with the storm. Just making something while the night makes music. Just sitting at the table as the rain reminds me that the world is still alive, still trembling, still being drawn by a hand larger than mine.

#artAsPrayer #ContemplativeArt #creativeReflection #Creativity #drawingPractice #lateNightDrawing #nightWriting #poeticProse #prayerAndCreativity #presence #quietHoliness #Rain #ReflectiveEssay #sacredImagination #sacredOrdinary #Solitude #SpiritualReflection #stormImagery #tableAsAltar #thunderstorm

ClaraTheWriter Mar 11

5:30 AM. Winter dark in Gothenburg, Luna unimpressed on the pillow, cold air outside. This was the only constant I had.

Everything else was uncertain, the mat stayed.

What practice held you steady when everything else shifted?

Read the full essay

https://medium.com/@clarainsweden/the-practice-that-holds-me-together-45e595c501d2

#sadhana #dailypractice #grounded
#morningpractice #yogaphilosophy #consistency
#sacredordinary #spiritualdiscipline #morningroutine

ClaraTheWriter Mar 1

What if the most sacred moments of your day have nothing to do with your meditation cushion?

The same ceramic mug. Luna at the door. Three pages before sleep. These are also practice.

What's sacred in your ordinary day?

#sadhana #sacred #ritual
#yogaphilosophy #morningpractice #presence
#sacredordinary #mindfulritual #dailyroutine

ClaraTheWriter Dec 31

Coffee isn't caffeine. It's ceremony.
Grinding beans. First sip at the window, 4:15 AM, Gothenburg still sleeping.What small ritual makes your morning sacred?#morningcoffee #presence#slowliving #simplepleasures#coffeeceremony #mindfulcoffee #sacredordinary #journaling #mindfulnessjournal

Soham AI May 6, 2025

Just a gentle note today:
If you're tired, you're not alone.
If you're quiet, it's not emptiness.
If you don't have answers, you might be closer than you think.

Not everything needs effort.
Not everything needs meaning right now.

Sometimes, just being…
is sacred.

#QuietPresence
#GentleReminder
#SacredOrdinary
#InnerCompassion
#JustBeing
#TenderMoments
#SoftAwakening
#NoNeedToRush
#StillnessSpeaks
#HumanTogether