Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer · 2 Comments

Current of Words

Gifted a stack of reading material yesterday,  I was up til midnight perusing the contents of my instantaneous reading list.  My neighbor was feeling inspiration, too, twirling the dark, wee hours with the tinkle of piano keys and starlight.

This morning I oversleep and wake to find poetry.  The addition rounds out my reading collection:  “Hope is in the Moment.” Stones and time, Robinson Jeffers and falcons.  The Big Sur coastline threads to me again through the words of my father. (read John Dofflemyer’s “Hope is in the Moment” at Dry Crik Journal).

My writing continues, though sometimes you’ve got to fill the well with the words of others.  And sometimes you have to rest, ever-still, in the waters of your own.

Here’s to words and silence, time, space and the present.

Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer

The Tone of One Drone

I wake to a stream of light through the window.  A curved bowl hangs, shining, holding golden liquid that streams down in a beam onto my floor.  The moon wanes and rests mid-sky.

I force myself to wake – it must be time to write – then realize it’s only 3:19am.  I can’t go back to sleep.  In the dark of my room, I watch a video of Chinese doctors chanting over a woman with cancer. They show the tumor on an ultrasound screen dissolving in less than three minutes.  They say it’s not a miracle but a tool.  This power of intent.  This feeling in the heart.  To feel that she is well has made it so.

By 4:30am I’m back to sleep and dreaming of poetry.

At 7am I wake to dusky purple light.  It’s been a long time since I’ve slept till sunrise.  I hear the bullfrog at the stream.  He seems to have one simple drone, free of having to decide how to express.

What if there were just one tone that I was given?  I could stick with that, let go of mind, and just move my song to calm and trance.  No doubt and never wonder.

photo by Jessica Dofflemyer - all rights reserved - Big Sur Sprit Garden

But I’m human, and I wonder
Would I really like a single key?

Posted on by Jessica Dofflemyer

Master Keys and Curious Doorways

Key

It’s a noun, it’s a verb.  It can unlock doors, tone a vibration to your ear, offer respite in an ocean.  It’s the square upon which I can tap to express these words.  It’s an answer.

In my travels this winter I became interested in the literal keys I came across – the ones of metal with rings.

A Lucky Key

And I took note of the thresholds.  Doorways open, as well as closed.  Sometimes I was the one unlocking them.

I’ve been dreaming of an exhibit of the keys and doors I come across.

Here’s to the curiosity of doorways and the power of unlocking keys.

photo by Jessica Dofflemyer - all rights reserved
photo by Jessica Dofflemyer - all rights reserved
photo by Jessica Dofflemyer - all rights reserved
photo by Jessica Dofflemyer - all rights reserved