Poetic Resurrection

Colors of Life - Ram Dass and Being

I watched an entire season of Ram Dass teachings and all the quotes this week are his.
The teachings had everything in it from his disliking of people, to his sexuality, to his questioning of Enlightenment. But what I noticed throughout the entire season it’s about being. He was just being.
How difficult it is for most of us to just be. Just sit still to quiet the mind and just be. So much of what we learn is to be a doer or a thinker or a seeker.
“The thinking mind is what is busy. You have to stay in your heart. You have to be in your heart. Be in your heart. The rest is up here in your head where you are doing, doing, doing.” 
The idea of being is just being. We have the answers to our lives, but we don’t sit quietly to hear what they are saying. There is more to us than this three-dimensional physical plane. We see this in our dreams, meditations and sometimes we get that aha moment when we talk to somebody or watch a TV show or overhear someone speaking. It’s amazing to me when you get those little nudges and I don’t know where they come from. Is it intuition? Is it our higher self, our angels, spirit guides? In the past, when I have fought these nudges, I will fall flat on my face. So, follow that intuition, Spirit guides, higher self, etc. because it’s usually right. “Remember, we are all affecting the world every moment, whether we mean to or not. Our actions and states of mind matter, because we’re so deeply interconnected with one another. Working on our own consciousness is the most important thing that we are doing at any moment, and being love is the supreme creative act.”
These nudges told me to write and publish my poetry. I was scared to do that because yes; I was exposing who I was. I was afraid I would not be accepted. The opposite happened. I was accepted. This same little nudge came to me constantly for two years to start up the Poetic Resurrection podcast. I didn’t know what the podcast should be about. I knew it would not be about acting. Then, during the pandemic, I saw people marching and helping at food banks and I thought, how wonderful would life be if we had self-love and self-acceptance? With these acceptances, it would be easy to accept and love others. There would be no fear of loss. Whichever direction these nudges are directing you, they need to be of a kind heart.
“Unconditional love really exists in each of us. It is part of our deep inner being. It is not so much an active emotion as a state of being. It’s not ‘I love you’ for this or that reason, not ‘I love you if you love me.’ It’s love for no reason, love without an object.”
The poem for this week is Continuum from Inspire Me: Perception.
Continuum
 
Spring florets glimmer
In afternoon light
Scent of fresh tulips
Myths of existence—fables
 
Trembling in 90 degrees
Veneer of tears
Illusions of turmoil
Created by self
Head spins—Pandora’s Box
 
Seven sins tap across the stage of
A cardinal songbird
As the earthfall cleanses itself
Hope gathers irises
For a rainbow bridge
 
Oyá* conjures and flees storm
Yemaya*—mother disapproves
Amazon and Niger Rivers
Dominated
Femininity protected
 
Travel—Antipodes
Indian ocean with full moonlight
Glistens as the waves erupt
Hera’s* vengeful heart
Aches from illegitimate family                                                                  
Crumbled mirror of water
Tears cascade past seven years,
Moisture blooms lilies of death
Phoenix’s ashes resurrected
In endless evolution
 
Get Ram Dass life-changing book Be Here Now at https://amzn.to/2ZQ6iuW
Check out his website: https://www.ramdass.org/
 
Oyá uses tornados as her weapon and raises dead armies to use as her warriors.
Yemaya is a powerful orisha who’s the mother of living things.
Hera is Zeus’ wife, best known for her jealousy of Zeus’s other family.
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Colors of Life - The Little Girl

Yesterday, I was honored to once again interview Luis J. Rodriguez for an upcoming episode on Poetic Resurrection. We spoke for about two hours and we had an amazing conversation about many subjects, including sexual abuse. Being a survivor of this, I had written the poem The Little Girl featured in my first book, Inspire Me: Raw. I’m grateful to my parents for being there for me. It was an experience I thought I had overcome since I could talk about the situation. But, I hadn’t.
It wasn’t until I wrote the poem that I could release the shame and trauma I was holding onto. It served no purpose but to keep me down. Why would I want to hold on to that? The situation is that we sometimes don’t know we’re still holding onto the past. It has a way of showing up as a trigger and that’s when I knew I had to work on letting go. I don’t believe in “forgive and forget”. Yes, I can forgive, but you don’t forget. You learn to forgive them and yourself for holding onto so much pain throughout your life.
I’ve noticed many survivors talk about their experience and I wanted to do the same; I just wrote from the perspective of the child, because the child doesn’t understand.
And now the poem
The Little Girl from Inspire Me: Raw
The little girl walks to schoolTenements line gray streetsShe does well in schoolHer five-year-old statureShows resistance & strength
Drawings of prismic colorsJoy and glee adorn her faceHesitant to show teacherWaiting for praise—teacher questionsShe understood but couldn’t answer
Teacher screams at herPoints—to disappear intoThe sea of moveable deskShe gazes at her tattered shoesHer friend speaks English, she does not
Colorless teacher was unkindTo the little girlWho only speaks SpanishTears flow down her faceShe hides - the teasing kids
Goes home, keeps to herselfPretends to be an actressLiving a world that wasn’t her ownOnly hearing voices of a different landCitizens we are, but not considered same
Pretending so young to be okayHer seven-year-old friendSaid she wanted to playA store basement, dark and clammyHer friend gazes on while she screams“It hurts,". “Why did you do this?”
A teenage boyTook friend’s innocence andNow he’s taken the little girl’sHer soul and worthBut she doesn’t understand
The store owner saves her,Atop soaring stairsBold voice of disgustVibrates the cryptBoy halts, he runs
She now rests at homeA peeling grey wood porchThird-floor view—sits on stepSunless hallwayLooking at the sky so blue
Doesn’t know how she got thereMind’s a haze of eventsDiscolored panties, hand washed oftenAdvertise the status of her little life
The bandages trying to holdThe innocence lost. It’s too lateMom looks at her—Turns away and cries.Did she do something wrong?Sorry you’re hurting; doesn’t know what to do
I’m sorry momDon’t mean to make you cryDon’t mean to make you cryTears never came to meThe little girl who didn’t understand
 

Colors of Life - My Story

A speech I gave over the weekend prompted this week’s episode. Poetic Resurrection is in its third season and I realized I haven’t told you my story. How did I get started in poetry, writing, and acting?
I grew up in Chicago to loving parents who stated “follow your dreams”. My parents were the working poor, but during the holidays we had live music parties with family and friends. Therefore, I wanted to be a singer-songwriter. My poetry became lyrics for songs I wrote in the 80s. Yes, I’m dating myself. I was a punk rocker. I even had a fanzine called LOZT and at the time, I was. I interviewed and photographed bands like the Clash, Echo & the Bunnymen, and The Cure to name a few. After this, I realized entertainment journalism wasn’t for me, even though it was fun for a while. After recording a demo, performing in a video, and a few shows. I realized that I just enjoyed singing and the music industry which I loved was not right for me. I had pursued music for so long that I felt I had to keep at it, but I didn’t.
An actor friend had a medical problem and had to stay home. He offered to give me free acting lessons, and I said yes because I thought that would help my music. I was hooked. I fell in love with acting. I started with theater and then musicals. Got an agent and started acting on TV and film. I’m still doing it.
Throughout all the different avenues in entertainment I’ve tried, my passion has been poetry. I wrote poetry, just to write it. I’d put it in a drawer and save it. It was my therapy. In 2016, I decided I wanted to publish my poetry. The poetry dealt with raw emotions. I contemplated using a pen name, but then I decided I needed to get over myself and use my given name. I hired an editor and researched publishers. I realized a manuscript takes six months to be read and then they’d tell you yes or no. I didn’t want to wait that long. Basically, because I was afraid I’d changed my mind about publishing. I went to Amazon Kindle because it was easy to publish a book. I was on the phone with the rep from Kindle and she kept telling me to press publish, which is the enter key and she had to tell me three times because I thought about how everyone would know how I felt. My traumas, my heartaches, and some humorous experiences. I pressed entered and ended up receiving great reviews and now I have three books and I’m currently working on my fourth, which is the third installation of the Inspire Me series entitled Inspire Me: In Time of Need.
The poem for this week is Sadness from Inspire Me: Raw.
Drizzle of a tear on a mountain
Chisels the gorge
Smoothing the surface—starting new
 
Flow of waves of full moon
Surrenders like a soldier near death
Nowhere yet peace
 
Mourning former actions
 An abundant essence yearned
Live the now- dismiss the rest
 
Soul’s journey brings me home
Master task—Letting go
Rewind thoughts confirmed
 
Dissolve elusive dream
Purge past yet debris clings
Sun warmth coddles me
 
Time wasted.  Was it?
Serene breeze expels fears
Life’s resurrection
 
 
Mesmerize by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1500005
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
 
 

Colors of Life - Season 3 Intro

Welcome to season 3 of the Poetic Resurrection Podcast. This season we will touch upon the “Colors of Life”, an international perspective with an introspective edge. We have poets and writers of different backgrounds who will read and discuss their writings. This is a breakaway from the usual podcast which steers away from politics and religion. They will speak about what happens in their culture, belief systems, and challenges they face. As always, love and acceptance are our perspectives. Just the experiences and acceptance of self and others. Join us for this insightful look at international existence and the different cultures and beliefs that create our world.
The poem for this week is Citizen from Inspire Me: Raw. I wrote this poem several months before Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. I was surprised to hear from many people that they didn’t know Puerto Ricans were American citizens. On a side note, people from Guam are also American citizens. Please join us in this new and exciting season and here’s the poem Citizen.
Citizen
Curly red hair
Freckled skin
Speaking Spanish
Not fitting in.
 
People’s bias
Perceptions
Ignorance
Citizen
 
Where are you from?
How did you get here?
Was it a struggle?
No—citizen.
 
No boats.
No tunnels.
No hiding.
Airplanes.
 
I belong here
Born here
Educated
Citizen.
 

Season Two Recap

Thanking all our guests and listening audience for joining us for Season Two of the Poetic Resurrection Podcast.
Jaclyn Steele—Soul of Connection we discuss the Soul Connection and how our soul’s calling intertwines our lives, beliefs, and our connection with others.
Alex Greenwood—Soul of Mystery We laugh, joke, and discuss the soul of writing mysteries.
Trini Rodriquez—Soul of Healing We discuss Native American and Mexican American sweat-lodges and how this brings you closer to your soul.
Che’Rae Adams—Soul of Writing We discuss what it takes to write a good story and how the story germinates from the soul. That inner voice drawing us to write our story.
Ian Brooks—Soul of Intention We had a lively discussion on the process of intention. How the pandemic, perceptions, and beliefs affect our lives and how we can change the characters we created in our story.
Jonathan Troen—Soul of Self-Love We have a lively conversation about the Self-Love Revolution.
Martin Espada—Soul of my Father A reading of Letter to My Father and how it affected him. We discussed historical events and perceptions of Puerto Rico and its people in this heartfelt interview.
Joachim Brackx—Soul of Self We discuss the self and how our perceptions play an important part in compassion, self-love, and acceptance.
Rick White – Soul of Understanding We have a great discussion about grief, life, illness and acceptance of self, our value, and how life changes.
Samuel Ashe II – Soul of Giving we discuss how our experiences teach us to help ourselves and others.
Melissa Da Silva – Soul of a Relationship We discuss Her journey from a toxic relationship to self-acceptance, love and grieving of love lost.
Charlie Sheldon – Soul of Storytelling We discuss his journey from Yale to being a fisherman to writing his books.
Andrew Seaton – Soul of You We discuss spiritual awakening and how it’s simple.
Louise Alexandra Erskine—Soul of Imperfection We discuss toxic relationships, parenting, and being a single mother raising boys and how her poetry and photography clarified and taught her acceptance of being imperfect.

Soul of Imperfection with Louise Alexandra Erskine

In our final episode of season 2, we have an amazing discussion with the lovely Louise Alexandra Erskine. We discuss toxic relationships, parenting, and being a single mother raising boys and how her poetry and photography clarified and taught her acceptance of being imperfect. We are all a work in progress.
Louise Alexandra Erskine is a poet, photographer, and content creator learning through a lifetime of passion and heartbreak Louise writes about her relationships and experiences in life, love, loss, surviving domestic abuse, and falling in love the right way—with herself! Louise experienced success early in writing poetry on Pinterest and has returned to writing as part of a long journey of self-discovery after losing herself to a controlling, abusive marriage. Louise is now a single parent raising three children in the English countryside and using Instagram to express emotion through imagery and tell the stories of her life both through her poetry via https://beautifullydefected.com and as a family connecting with other women struggling through toxic relationships on @this_beautifully_defected_life.
 

Soul of You with Andrew Seaton

Our guest this week is Andrew Seaton author of Spiritual Awakening Made Simple. We discuss spiritual awakening and how it's simple, grief, and other emotions affecting our perceptions. Check out this informative interview.
Andrew Seaton is a spiritual author, teacher, counselor, and mentor for spiritual awakening. For more than four decades, he delved deeply into educational philosophy and psychology; old wisdom and new science; reports of higher consciousness; and a wide range of personal development, holistic wellness, and spiritual awareness practices. As Andrew experienced all the personal ups and downs of his life, his working life was quite varied, but mostly in education. He had many different roles in that field, most of them relating to education of the whole person. His PhD thesis was titled "Investing in Intelligence: An Inquiry into Educational Paradigm Change." Andrew came to see that in our world we are generally making some deeply flawed assumptions about knowledge, human nature, and quality of life. In 2006, he resigned from a two-year stint as an education academic in order to focus on unlearning his education and other conditioning, and on awakening, the fuller functioning that he had come to see so clearly is possible and desirable.Andrew has recently experienced major changes in his consciousness and way of being in the world. Throughout 2017 and 2018, he was very focused on living the insights and practices he describes in his book Spiritual Awakening Made Simple: How to See Through the Mist of the Mind to the Peace of the Here and Now (John Hunt Publishing, 2020). In September of 2018, Andrew's spiritual awakening began in earnest with a beautiful dream followed by energy flows through his body.Through his writings, online courses, talks, and 1-on-1 counseling support and mentoring via online conferencing, Andrew now helps others to clear away the mist of the conditioned mind and awaken to their true nature as the peace-filled observing awareness beyond the mind. He teaches an online course on Udemy and Coursify titled “9 Steps to a Beautiful Life Through Spiritual Awakening”. He speaks to groups and podcast interviewers about how, contrary to popular belief and experience, spiritual awakening is both natural and achievable.
Awakening Made Simple (on Amazon)
Andrew’s website is at AwakeningMadeSimple.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndrewSeaton101
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCau8nH_QV9fGPnZopgzkDrg
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewseaton101
 
 

Soul of Storytelling with Charlie Sheldon

Charlie Sheldon is based in Washington and is the author of Strong Heart, Adrift, and the third book in the series Totem (see links below).
Charlie went to Yale University and UMass, where he received a Masters Degree in Wildlife Biology/Resource Management.
He worked in the fishing industry for 15 years as a deckhand, mate, skipper, and consultant, then relocated to the Pacific Northwest in 1990 to be near Olympic National Park.
He worked at seaports for nearly 30 years as a planner, project manager, and executive.
When he retired from seaports in 2012 he returned to sea as a merchant sailor for four years, working on various container and military vessels as Able Bodied Seaman and Bosun.
He retired in 2016 to work full time at his writing. Nowadays he hikes in the Olympic National Park whenever he can, cooks for his wife, pesters his grandchildren, and continues to scribble tales.
Available on Amazon
Strong Heart: https://amzn.to/3lsNZmm
Adrift: https://amzn.to/3C7gJrF
Totem: https://amzn.to/3hu346c

Soul of a Relationship with Melissa Da Silva

The Soul of a Relationship with Melissa Da Silva. We discuss her book Lose Me. Her journey from a toxic relationship to self-acceptance and love. We discuss grieving of love lost.
Melissa Da Silva is a Canadian writer who grew up in Toronto, ON. She went to Humber College for Business.
Melissa's been writing since she was 18. In 2020 she self-published her first book called Lose me. It's about a toxic relationship and the importance of loving yourself. Lose me debuted as a top seller on Amazon. Inspired by her own life events, she hopes people can relate to her relationship struggles and life.
https://www.mdswrites.com/
https://www.instagram.com/mds.writes/
Books available on Amazon by author:
Lose Me
Last Kiss

Soul of Giving with Samuel Ashe II

In this week's episode, we have Sammy Ashe II. He performs a reading of his song "Enemy" sung by Fanesha Fabre. We listen to her singing it and find out what prompted him to write the song, This is an entertaining conversation about everything from music, the Ashe Academy, and how our experiences teach us to help ourselves and others.
Samuel Jonathan Ashe II, better known as Sammy Ashe is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Ashe Academy, a nonprofit focused on addressing the access and opportunity gap for Students of Color pursuing the Arts & STEM fields through mentorship, annual scholarships, and parental engagement. He is also a Marketing Strategist with a passion for Filmmaking, Podcasting, and Songwriting.  
In his music career, he has worked with artists like Fanesha Fabre, Stephen James, Cortex Accelera, Danielle Parente, and Mike Georgia to name a few on projects involving songwriting, composing, and producing.
 
The Ashe Academy
Website: www.theasheacademy.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/theasheacademy
Instagram: www.instagram.com/theasheacademy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theasheacademy
Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/theasheacademy 
 
Connect with Samuel J. Ashe II
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samueljasheii
Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/itscousinsammy