Nancy Paddock wrote this wonderful poem about letting go and just being in the world and not separate from it. I loved her imagery created in getting me down to ground level where we can live differently.
When I am at ground level, I am in the world and not outside and over it. I spend time in sabbatical wandering uncharted territory. This theme is emerging in my dissertation where I compare teaching to a hermeneutic exploration of the classroom, it participants, and living topics like a rich, textured landscape we navigate relationally. At ground level, teachers encounter, interpret, and understand a particular world that is their teaching and no one else’s teaching.
Parker Palmer has a quote about teachers using technique until the real teacher shows up. It takes time and patience; togetherness and solitude to bring this about. As I write and read, I think about what that meant and means to me as a particular teacher who is still coming to be in new ways particular to me.
Lie down with your belly to the ground,
like an old dog in the sun. Smell
the greenness of the cloverleaf, feel the damp
earth through your clothes, let an ant
wander the uncharted territory
of your skin. Lie down
with your belly to the ground. Melt into
the earth’s contours like a harmless snake.
All else is mere bravado.
Let your mind resolve itself
in a tangle of grass.
Lie down with your belly
to the ground, flat out, on ground level.
Prostrate yourself before the soil
you will someday enter.
Stop doing.
Stop judging, fearing, trying.
This is not dying, but the way to live
in a world of change and gravity.
Let go. Let your burdens drop.
Let your grief-charge bleed off
into the ground.
Lie down with your belly to the ground
and then rise up
with the earth still in you.
ivonprefontaine
Teacher as Transformer 
Oh wow! I never thought of doing that before but I agree how freeing that would be! Beautiful post!
Thank you Michelle Marie.
🙂
Such wonderful imagery. The flow feels like a natural rhythm. Hugs, Barbara
Yes, there is an incredible imagery sensation in this poem. Take care Barbara.
I understand why you like it so much…very nicely written and a poem which easily one can relate to…thanks for sharing and have a Happy Easter!
Wendell, I hope you had a joyous and happy Easter. Thank you for the wonderful comment.
Beautiful poetry!
Thank you.
This is great!
Thank you Julie.
Fantastic…timely…and so very on point.
Thank you Mimi.
I love this poem and the sensations that he captures. So real …. and yes, earthy!
It is earthy. Thank you for a wonderful comment Val.
Love this!
Thank you Catherine.
Love it, so vivid and beautiful ~
“Lie down with your belly to the ground
and then rise up
with the earth still in you.”
This poem speaks in many different ways. These lines reminded me of the human connection with humus and humility.
Reblogged this on Geo Sans and commented:
a poetic confidant … #NaPoWriMo
Pingback: My Poetic Confidants / My April Reblogs | Geo Sans
wonderful!
Thank you Dawn.
Very inspiring! I love the thinking behind that, the concept of getting our mind on ground level, pulling away from our fantasies perhaps, of what we think this life is about. We should get to that kind of thinking often! 🙂
Thank you for the lovely comment Suzy.
Fantastic- cannot explain how useful such affirmations are in today’s world of complexity and social disorders.
Thank you Swati.