Peace Is a Verb - Roberta Reyes Cordero - 2003
"Peace is a verb
active, in-your-face
need-to-do-it
to be it
won't-happen-without-you
verb
not the mere absence of war
as they say
not emptiness nor dullness
nor the absence of anything,
not even conflict.
Peace is courage (v.t.) to
talk it through
walk it off
to be wrong (or right)
and gracious.
Peace is respect (v.t.) for
the many faces of truth
the many paths to Great Mysterious
even the ones we fear.
Peace is acceptance (v.t.) that
the Reciprocity of Life
does not depend on our consent
but Harmony does—
if we take, we must give
if we give, we must receive
no small violence without a price
no small kindness without a gift.
Peace is cherishing
the exquisite face of beauty
in each being, every creature
of this voluptuous Mother
our Earth
our only homeland.
Peace is a verb
active, in-your-face
need-to-do-it
to be it
won't-happen-without-you
verb."
Roberta Reyes Cordero is a Chumash Maritime Association member and builder.
Chumash History - History of the Chumash People
I love the idea in this poem, that Peace is a verb: courage, respect, acceptance, giving and receiving, cherishing - positive values to focus on.
"Peace is cherishing the exquisite face of beauty in each being, every creature..." Have you every really looked at the face of a Dungeness Crab? Can you see the beauty in it's face? This crab looks like it is not smiling at it's fate. We really love crab in our family. I am thankful that to have had the opportunities to go crabbing with Al and enjoy the many crab meat recipes as we experiment using delicious Dungeness Crab from the Pacific Ocean.
This crab is sitting on a special copper, crab designed plate that was a gift from Jessica and Jeffrey for Christmas a few years ago.
Photo: Fresh caught Dungeness Crab - 1/22/08
I love the idea in this poem, that Peace is a verb: courage, respect, acceptance, giving and receiving, cherishing - positive values to focus on.
"Peace is cherishing the exquisite face of beauty in each being, every creature..." Have you every really looked at the face of a Dungeness Crab? Can you see the beauty in it's face? This crab looks like it is not smiling at it's fate. We really love crab in our family. I am thankful that to have had the opportunities to go crabbing with Al and enjoy the many crab meat recipes as we experiment using delicious Dungeness Crab from the Pacific Ocean.
This crab is sitting on a special copper, crab designed plate that was a gift from Jessica and Jeffrey for Christmas a few years ago.
Photo: Fresh caught Dungeness Crab - 1/22/08
2 comments:
My co-blogger, Ruth, and I have been inspired to pay closer attention to our daily lives. As teachers, we've realized this is of paramount importance for children as well. Therefore, in our classrooms and on our blog, we're starting a SLICE OF LIFE STORY CHALLENGE during the month of March. We're hoping to encourage teachers and writers to record slices of their daily lives in their writer's notebooks or on their blogs (and participate in our 31-day challenge)
We value this work and think it could have a great impact on the lives of children in writing classrooms across the country. However we need adults to do this important work first. Therefore, we'd love to have you be part of this Challenge. You can learn more about it by going to http://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/slice-of-life-story-challenge/.
Additionally, your support of this endeavor, would be super too. Would you be willing to share this Challenge with your blog readers?
Thank you!
Best regards,
Stacey
This post is beautiful, but all I can think about is how yummy that crab looks (heh-heh)!
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