I am in Spokane now, reading, writing, and preparing for two presentations at the end of the month. It is unseasonable here, but it is at home, too. Rain and snow go with the low temperatures.
I wrote this about the paradox we experience in spring. It is a time of rejuvenation and resurrection, literally and figuratively, yet it is not always easy to see, unless I watch closely. Each day, as I walk, I see signs that contradict each other: sullen skies, a glacial wind, flowers showing, and robins gathered to feed.
Leaden, sullen rain-heavy skies,
The wind glacial;
Absent a lover’s warm touch,
With precision, it cuts through cloth,
Touches skin with icy fingers.
Have faith the calendar counsels
Nature speaks in other ways;
Daffodils reach through the earth,
Robins find food washed up on the sidewalk,
I hear spring is here.
I took this picture of the first robin I saw last spring. There was still snow. The robin posed for me, more interested in finding food than fearing me.
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About ivonprefontaine
In keeping with bell hooks and Noam Chomsky, I consider myself a public and dissident intellectual. Part of my work is to move beyond (transcend) institutional dogmas that bind me to defend freedom, raising my voice to be heard on behalf of those who seek equity and justice in all their forms.
I completed my PhD in Philosophy of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. My dissertation and research was how teachers experience becoming teachers and their role as leaders.
I focus on leading, communicating, and innovating in organizations. This includes mindfuful servant-leadership, World Cafe events, Appreciative Inquiry, and expressing one's self through creativity. I offer retreats, workshops, and presentations that can be tailored to your organzations specific needs.
I published peer reviewed articles about schools as learning organizations, currere as an ethical pursuit, and hope as an essential element of adult eductaion. I published three poems and am currently preparing my poetry to publish as an anthology of poetry.
I present on mindful leadership, servant leadership, schools as learning organizations, how teachers experience becoming teachers, assessement, and critical thinking. I facilitate mindfulness, hospitality retreats. and World Cafe Events using Appreciative Inquiry.
I am writing and researching about various forms of leadership, how teachers inform and form their identity as a particular teacher, schools as learning organizations, hope and its anticipatory relationship with the future, and hope as an essential element in learning.
this is so informative, well detailed and deserved post!!
Thank you Mihran.
A lovely rendering of this year’s rumour. Good luck with the presentations Ivon 💛
Thank you Val.
Very nice. Good luck with your presentations
Thank you Dan.
Beautiful robin. Lovely poem.
Thank you.
Ah! Spring! It gives me energy just thinking it is near. It’s my favorite season as the world comes to life again in so many ways.
Spring is a wonderful time with new life.
This was beautiful, Ivon..Spring is a tug of war. Tomorrow is supposed to be warm and sunny before the rains come back. I will be giddy working in the yard.
Thank you Michele. It is a tug of war. We will get there, but it seems to have been a long winter.
Beautiful Ivon.
Thank you David.
We here in Australia, Ivon, are experiencing the reverse of the northern hemisphere. We patiently, or not so patiently wait for Autumn to make its appearance. Our evenings are becoming somewhat cooler, however, the days, though shorter, are still full of heat.
I really enjoyed your contradictory poem; it made perfect sense!
May your end of month presentations fair well.
Thank you Carolyn. That makes sense. We were in Arizona in January and it was warm during the days and cool at night. It was not as warm as it will be in a month or two, but still as you move closer to the equator things change.
wonderful post 🙂
Thank you.
Lovely poem, Ivon. We can but flow with nature, to heck with calendars these days. Believe it or not, it’s the same in Hawaii(!)
Thank you Bela.
People tell me it has been a slow movement through spring. It is below seasonable here in Spokane and at home in Edmonton. Nature is the ultimate guide.
Indeed.
That’s spring… a wavering in approach of summer… often opposite signs; but we know in which direction we’re going.
Shimon, that is a great way to describe spring and life, for that matter.
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
Wonderful, Ivon! Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts!
Be happy! You are where the civilisation is. 😉 What should i say about my home, here at the end of the world? LOL
Have a good weekend ahead. Michael
Thank you Michael. Take care and enjo.
An apt and poignant portrait beautifully penned, Ivon. 🙂 Here in Maine, we’re still waiting too…
It seems to be a common story this year. Thank you Bette.
expressed with the elegance
of seasons 🙂
They each an elegant and unique signature.
Loved the poem, Ivon. I still remember those spring times long ago when snow fell in April and even in May, but the new life is persistent and spring eventually arrives.
It is snowing in Edmonton today and yesterday. Spokane was not much better yesterday. It was drizzly, windy, and cold.
I very much enjoyed this one, Ivon. Also, it seems you and I are neighbors (more-or-less) – I’m hanging around University of Idaho these days. Looking forward to reading more.
Thank you Andy. I look forward to reading your blog.
I’m happy to have found your beautiful blog. Thank you for the photo of last year’s Robin.
You are welcome and I am glad you found your way here.
Reblogged this on SEO.
Nice work Ivon. As someone who spends entirely too much time indoors looking at ice, it would be nice to get a reprieve when I walk outside. I appreciate the poem and the sentiment that eventually…………….spring will appear.
It has today in Spokane, but I hear it snowed the last couple days in Edmonton.
Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
INDEED A PARADOX—‘SPECIALLY IN MY NECK OF THE WOODS! GREAT TO SEE MORE POSTS, SIR! 🙂
Beautifully written and inspiring!
This poem really speaks to the signs of Spring that revitalize us.
Love your words
Thank you Kenne.