contemplative Archives - Page 2 of 2

Of Bloody Moons and Purpose

During the Blood Wolf Moon in January, close observers witnessed a bright flare on the lower right quadrant. Astronomers hypothesize a small piece of a comet or an asteroid hit the surface. This one bright and blazing strike captured the imagination of earth-bound viewers. Still, the brief encounter probably won't leave a mark visible to the naked eye. Who can say what the lasting impact will be? Contemplating the brevity of moonstrikes, I thought about how ideas appear as if out of nowhere, strike our [...]

By irvinjgdm|2019-01-30T16:51:10+00:00January 30th, 2019|contemplative, Essays, inspirational, philosophical|1 Comment

An Unsilent Knight

The first snowfall of the season settles over the ground in the late November twilight. I stand at the window, dancing with the snowflakes and thinking about my mother, all those years ago pregnant with me, her due date passing as she, too, gazed out the window, wondering where my father was, if he still lived. World War II had ended, but danger continued to stalk the globe. Around her family's store/home, winter promised to call, as it does today, and I, restless, waited until [...]

By irvinjgdm|2018-11-30T16:58:19+00:00November 30th, 2018|contemplative, emotive, inspirational, philosophical, seasonal|0 Comments

Swimming Upstream

This is the time of year for it...the time when salmon, who spend their early lives in rivers before heading out to sea, return to those same rivers to spawn. Fueled by their ocean feedings, they are fortified for the arduous journey back to their birthplace to begin the cycle all over again. Driven by instinct, clear on where they belong, the fish fight currents, leap obstacles, evade bear claws and anglers as they stretch toward the goal. The marathon touches anyone lucky enough to [...]

By irvinjgdm|2018-10-31T11:57:35+00:00October 31st, 2018|contemplative, emotive, Essays, inspirational, seasonal|0 Comments

The Seasons of Our Lives

Early morning fog wafts across the highway. Dawn, like a fan dancer in nature's club, waves her veils across the land. One more trip to PA to consult with my siblings about our mother's delusional dementia. Earlier in the summer, she was still mostly Irma. Now when I arrive, she is mostly gone, living inside the weird, funny, sad, unbelievable story her brain is crocheting over her memories. These drives are not fun. Along the way, I plug in my iPod and crank up my [...]

By irvinjgdm|2018-08-30T14:22:12+00:00August 30th, 2018|contemplative, Essays, philosophical, seasonal|0 Comments

Mother, May I?

When we were kids, playing outside was a required activity. Our mother ordered us to leave the house and 'get some fresh air." Until we were old enough to have chores, that's exactly what we did. We claimed the clovered yards, the dandelioned spaces, the treed empty lots, establishing forts or excavating holes for marble games. We climbed construction equipment, acrobated across the beams of houses under construction, fished in mud puddles. Most of all, we organized games - tag, hide and seek, "Mother, May [...]

By irvinjgdm|2018-05-01T11:25:15+00:00May 1st, 2018|contemplative, Essays, inspirational, motivational|1 Comment

Sharing Space… Literary Citizenship and the era of Me

It's so easy to be caught looking inward. Navel gazing has never been so attractive. The culture of entitlement that surrounds us paves a yellow brick road to the Emerald City of Envy and invites us to pamper ourselves, celebrate our own egos, and neglect that which doesn't touch us. Me, me, me scream the ads. "We're all deserving," suggest the self-help gurus. Mine is better than yours, sniff the armchair critics. Narcissus would be proud. Recently, one of my author friends posted a question [...]

By irvinjgdm|2018-02-01T01:38:06+00:00February 1st, 2018|contemplative, Essays, inspirational, motivational, philosophical|1 Comment

A Discourse On Loss

"No man is an island." John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions As 2017 closes out its run, I struggle through the immensity of unmooring that the year has brought. My bubble life of structure and belief in the common decency of man has suffered a knock-out punch. As a child of the sixties, I am no stranger to turmoil. However, the bouts of political insanity that rock the country strain my belief that goodness will triumph. A minority should never determine the course of the [...]

By irvinjgdm|2017-12-31T11:59:00+00:00December 31st, 2017|contemplative, emotive, Essays, inspirational, philosophical|0 Comments

A December Manifesto: 2017

One. I am only one, but I have a voice. As a human being, as a citizen, as a child of the Creator, I must use that voice to speak out for good. Evil cannot be ignored or excused. Not for political gain. Not for corporate greed. Not out of apathy. In this season of peace, when all religions share hope, I must nourish the flame of that hope. More alike than we are different, a cut bleeds red on all our skins. A light [...]

By irvinjgdm|2017-12-03T17:26:03+00:00December 3rd, 2017|contemplative, emotive, Essays, inspirational, motivational, philosophical, seasonal|0 Comments

October…a prose poem in three stanzas

If April is 'the cruelest month,' October is the most seductive. I am thrice bitten...by the whisper and crunch of fallen leaves, the distant call of migrating geese, the yawning fields and garden beds settling into slumber. October crooks a finger and I lean into the wind, eager to grow hobbit feet and slip off among the trees, to follow streams and trails, to sleuth the beauty hiding beyond the next turn. The seasonal sights of orange lanterns strung beneath black spiderwebs, the excited squeals [...]

By irvinjgdm|2017-09-30T12:11:24+00:00September 30th, 2017|contemplative, emotive, Essays, inspirational, motivational, nature, seasonal|0 Comments

Saving Space For Sorrow…

When I'm immersed in a plot, one of my favorite lines to ponder is a quote from a John Irving novel The Hotel New Hampshire, I believe: "Sorrow floats." Of course, in the novel, Sorrow is a stuffed dog, but in my experience, personal now as well as professional, sorrow is that emotion that sneaks up on you when you least expect it, scares the shit out of you and then begs for attention. There isn't a doggy treat in the world that will satisfy [...]

By irvinjgdm|2017-06-28T15:34:12+00:00June 28th, 2017|contemplative, emotive, Essays, inspirational, philosophical|0 Comments