I may be naive, but I believe I have stumbled upon the antithesis of mediation. If the objective was to take a rather chatty and comfortable couple and antagonize them separately until neither could see straight, then she performed beautifully. There are a host of things, both reasonable and unreasonable, upon which my ex The Politician and I do not agree. Unfortunately, the only common ground we found yesterday was that that meeting was a tragic waste of time.
April 8, 2011
Common Ground
Posted by The Burrow Mistress under In The Moment | Tags: divorce, love, marriage, mediation, parenting, wasted time |1 Comment
April 6, 2011
What’s Hotter?
Posted by The Burrow Mistress under In The Moment | Tags: bed crumbs, children, parenting, sleep |1 Comment
Thought for the day…
I’m not sure what’s hotter, when a man bounds out of bed to ease a fussy child before you wake or when he brushes cereal crumbs off the sheets as he climbs back in without once groaning about the children’s haphazard eating habits?
April 6, 2011
Shaman
Posted by The Burrow Mistress under Poetry and Prose | Tags: archetype, bear, love, poetry, shaman, transformation |Leave a Comment
You wrap your arms around me and hold the Earth still.
The soft musk of your skin,
The heavy thud in your ribs that recalls the beat of tribal drums,
The charred taste of burning embers coats my tongue,
Lingers….
I slip away with you,
Down into the earthen hollow,
The center of myself.
Warm tangled flesh presses deep into the dampened soil.
On hands and knees you bore me back into the light.
Lover. Shaman. Bear.
April 4, 2011
Hunger
Posted by The Burrow Mistress under Burrow Tales, In The Moment | Tags: abundance, children, coffee, DaVinci, hunger, justice, motherhood, protest, responsibility, sleep, Starbucks, stress, Unitarian Universalist |[2] Comments
Today I did not eat. I afforded myself my ritual morning coffee because it is doctrine and because I had only slept a few sparse hours. Tender Warrior spent the wee morning hours battling dream time rock golems, and I spent them soothing his battle scars. I brewed the fresh Starbucks grounds into my favorite large blue mug, mixed in the heavy whipping cream, sugar free DaVinci syrup and topped it with more whipped cream. It’s less beverage and more indulgent art. I tumbled into the couch and tilted the contents of the mug to my lips. As the sleepless haze lifted I remembered. Today I had committed myself to a fast.
I had been moved to such lengths in church Sunday morning as I heard our minister describing the moral implications of the congressional budget. He touched briefly on the cuts that would leave women and children without food stamps. He pledged his own fast in solidarity with those families and the religious leaders who shared his, our, vision of fair and responsible governance. He called from the pulpit and my conscience answered. But let’s leave the politics here. The insight I gained from this small act of protest was far more personal.
By mid-day the gnawing in my belly had begun to garner my attention. It was more antagonizing than agony, but my inability to ease it shifted my thoughts inward. It occurred to me then as it does now. The challenges in my life are the challenges of abundance.
I am loved and thus committed to those around me.
I am talented and thus needed.
I am intelligent and thus indulge my interests.
My home is warm and spacious and thus requires upkeep.
I am healthy and thus capable of lending my strength.
My stomach groaned reminding me that but for grace it could be otherwise. Today I did not eat, yet I was nourished all the same.
April 4, 2011
Wolves
Posted by The Burrow Matriarch under Poetry and Prose | Tags: children, coffee, dogs, morning, poetry, whiskers |Leave a Comment
Crisp cool California morning
Dogs with twitchy whiskers unlock wild impulses, memories from long ago
Fire, hunger, pack talk, hunt
Smell of coffee breaks the trance
People partners, laughing children padding through the house
No rabbit or antelope today
Wet noses nudging
Bacon and eggs shared
Back to a big warm bed.
April 1, 2011
The Tide
Posted by The Burrow Mistress under Burrow Tales | Tags: children, cold, dogs, motherhood, responsibility, roles, self actualization, sick, sleep, stress |1 Comment
It’s late morning and I lay there, sprawled upon my bed, irritated by the constricting heavy mucous that has taken residence in my chest. I can hear Herding Stars and The SunGod on the back patio. It’s the barking hour. A particularly joyous time of day, if you happen to be a dog.
So much for coveting an extra hour or so of sleep. No matter. Today I woke up tallying my shortcomings not my successes anyhow. It’s not a particularly productive past time, but it suits my mood. This monstrous cold is sweeping me under like a rip current and the whole week feels like a lateral swim against the tide.
My inner critic rails against me. Is it even possible to fill all the roles I have pronounced upon myself? Devoted Mother. Dutiful Daughter. Responsive Partner. Competitive Student. Dependable Therapist. Compassionate Volunteer. Socially Responsible Woman of Faith. … Dog Mistress….
I close my eyes and argue with this vicious inner cynic for a while. It’s exhausting and I once again seek sleep as a refuge. Just before I finally drift off I hear Tender Warrior playing outside and I smile. Perhaps it is possible to be the shoreline, not the swimmer, and let each role shape me instead.
November 4, 2010
Autumn
Posted by The Burrow Mistress under Poetry and Prose | Tags: autumn, crone, goddess, motherhood, pagan, poetry |Leave a Comment
The Crone’s dark shadow creeps across the land.
Thrice she strikes the blunted staff of her sickle upon the earth and bids her daughter, “Rest and bear no more.”
The brittle wasted ground beneath her cracks.
The young mother yields, and taking the sickle from the Crone slays all that feeds un-weaned from her bosom.
Slouched and ailing she shepherds the fallen into the Crone’s black shadow,
and in that fertile darkness,
slumbers.
The Burrow Murmurs 