InSpiritry

What are the odds?

We ask each other,

watching another plane

disappear from radar

into a veil of clouds,

broken into bits,

flown beneath the waves.

The sky is falling.

In a made for TV mystery,

three giant jetliners full

of families, couples, children

have vanished into thin air.

Imagining the final moments,

we grimace and remember

flying is always an act

of faith in science: to believe

the invisible vectors

of lift and flow and velocity

can fight the insistent force

of Earth’s jealous hold.

Sobered, we stop and say

our prayers, promise to be better,

hope to God and goodness

we are survivors.

Anne McCrady

Poet with a Press Pass is written by Anne McCrady and produced by InSpiritry in response to world news, current events and social justice topics.

More about Anne and InSpiritry is available at InSpiritry.com

Hanukkah has passed. Christmas is a few days away. Kwanzaa starts next week. New Year’s Day is after that, and the Solstice has turned us toward longer days. Yes, we are coming to the end of the journey of another year. Our travels for 2013 are almost done, and we are arriving home again to who we are, having adventured out into the world.

Now is a good time to consider where the year has taken you physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually:

• How has life changed?
• Who did you meet? Who did you lose?
• What wisdom have you gained?
• Where did you see Love? Feel Love?
• How have you changed?

Here is a poem for your reminiscing:

Holiday Homecoming 

We have journeyed the distance of another year!

How comforting to find the lights of Christmas,

bright as a beacon, calling us home from our travels.

Older, wiser and full of stories to tell,

now we have the gift of time

to lean our backs against one another,

wrap our hands around cups of warmth,

look long into faces we have missed,

listen to adventures that somehow mirror our own.

Now we can open the lovely bundles of our hearts

letting tears and laughter spill out—

our assurance that no matter how far we go,

it is love, always love, that is our port, our shelter,

our humble, starlit stable.

During these final days of December, take some time to be thankful for the journey, to cherish the special moments of 2013, to tuck the stories you love most into your heart and let go of any darkness, so that your launch into 2014 will be a bright and beautiful beginning!

Every Moment is Poetic — And Every Life is an InSpirational Story!

For More InSpiration from Anne McCrady, Visit her InSpiritry Website

Let Peace begin with me – let this be the moment now!

A line from the song, Let There Be Peace on Earth

Tomorrow is World Peace Day!

Also known as the United Nations International Day of Peace, September 21 is celebrated around the world as a time dedicated to global peace with prayer services, concerts, candlelight vigils, festivals, community events and conferences. (more…)

“If there is any great secret to success in life,

 it is the ability to put yourself in the other person’s place

and see things from his point of view as well as your own.” Henry Ford 

As I worked on a poetry presentation this week, I realized that the the ideas I am presenting are not limited to writing — they are, in fact, InSpiritry ideas worth sharing! The workshop I have been developing is a lesson for poets about persona poems. For the uninitiated, the persona of a poem is the person speaking to the reader. In some persona poems the writer assumes an identity other than their own.  That persona can be another person, an animal, a place, even something inanimate. In a persona poem, an alternate point of view means using an intentionally different way of speaking, to become that other voice. Enough about literary technique, though; back to my original reason for this post.   

What drew me to widen my considerations about writing persona poems was my assertion that “persona poems compel us to consider how it feels to be someone else.” (more…)

April was National Poetry Month, and what a heart-warming celebration the past few weeks have been for me:

(more…)

These days, whatever your nationality or political leaning, it’s easy to feel a sense of despondency about the condition of our world.

• American leaders blame Arab extremists.
• Arabs accuse the West.
• The Jews fault the Muslims.
• Iran suspects Christians.
• Democrats indict Republicans.
• Republicans blame China.
• China complains about American liberals.
• Liberals point to Conservatives.
• Christian conservatives say it’s God’s will.

In our fear and anger, we all demand action, but when it’s time for action, we ask indignantly,

Who me? What can I do? (more…)

 When We Raise Our Voices…

Last month, while attending the International Women’s Peace Conference in Dallas, I was reminded of the plight of women around the world. Inspired to be more proactive, I returned home to find an opportunity to do that. The Feminist Majority Foundation, a group I link to at my website, www.InSpiritry.com, was requesting for emails to be sent to the Iranian government regarding an imprisoned Iranian-American scholar, Dr. Haleh Esfandiari. It told how Dr. Esfandiari had traveled from the United States to visit her elderly mother and, while in Iran, was abducted and imprisoned. That evening I saw an Iranian propaganda videotape of the scholar as well as a public television interview with her husband and daughter begging for her release, claiming she had lost weight and seemed dejected. I was compelled to take action. Immediately, I sent an impassioned email to Iranian officials as requested.

That was a month ago. (more…)

There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

Jelaluddin Balkhi (Rumi)

The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

Imagine yourself so filled with gratitude and joy that you feel compelled to kneel–to kneel!–and kiss the very ground on which you stand, to thank God/Nature/Life for the pleasure and priviledge of living! Now imagine a hundred ways to express that joy!

(more…)

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InSpiritry PODCASTS-

Twenty Minutes to Rekindle Your Spirit!

Theme: Peacemaking

Are you disturbed by the conflict in the world or maybe even the conflict in your own life?

Join Anne McCrady for this as she takes a look at how we can be peacemakers for ourselves and others.

Anne shares how peace is not just the absence of global violence, peace is a choice we make about how we live each day. In this compelling program, Anne McCrady inspires listeners to make peace a personal intention and peacemaking a daily practice. She reminds listeners that if we join forces for peace, the outcome can be a better world, a healthier society, a more loving family and that greatest of blessings: a peaceful heart.

Quotes by: Mahatma Gandhi, Howard Hunter, John F. Kennedy, Deepak Chopra, Isabel McCrady

An Inspirational Story about: Betty Williams, Northern Ireland Peace Activitist, 1977 Nobel Peace Laureate

Books Recommendations for: Peace Is the Way by Deepak Chopra; The Search for a Non-Violent Future by Michael Nagler; Speak Peace by Marshall B. Rosenber

Poems: What I Tell Children and Sus Madres by Anne McCrady

Read the complete text for this Podcast! (more…)

Posted by Anne McCrady

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Every year as June begins, I am returned to the joy of being ten or twelve with a whole summer ahead. Those days in the mid sixties were a hot, humid heaven!  

Already there were forces at work inside me as I took part in the American experience. A science nerd, a Southerner, a white female, an upper middle class Christian, I saw the world as safe and just with unlimited potential, and I wanted that for everyone (especially the unconverted people we had never seen in China and Africa and Russia).

But there were things to come we could not foresee. (more…)