For my beloved patrons on Patreon, I regularly share posts about What’s Inspiring Me Now. These are wide-ranging and are meant to offer patrons new sources of juicy inspiration they might want to tap into.

Today, I thought I’d share this on my own blog for all to enjoy.

Making a living as an artist and facilitator of cultural change isn’t easy. If you’d like to help support the sacred work I do in the world—including these posts, writing poems, teaching and helping others find their gifts and realize their dreams, and firekeeping, among other vital, life-sustaining pursuits, please consider joining me on Patreon.

You can receive all kinds of inspiration and all the amazing things I only share over there for as little as $3 a month, and I will be eternally grateful to you. If you join me by the end of the year, I’ll even send you a beautiful broadside of a poem of mine.

On to what’s inspiring me now…

What’s Inspiring Me Now

Poetry Unbound

This podcast is a dream! 10-15 minute segments in which Padraig O’Tuama reads one beautiful poem in his gorgeous Irish accent and then illuminates aspects of it so beautifully and then reads it once more. The very best kind of little break and nourishment for your soul in your day. His selections are excellent. The details he pulls out are beautiful and meaningful. And the whole thing is a delicious treat.

Sustainable Living and Resilience

For about a year and a half I’ve been delving deep into the big topic of how do we become more resilient for the coming (and current) crises in the environment, economy, and energy production (peak oil etc)—and how do we live more sustainably on Earth, creating resilient, sustainable communities and lifestyles.

It’s been a deep and challenging exploration, confronting head on just how unsustainable our way of life in the United States is and how much needs to change. And facing my fears and the reality of the collapse of our current way of life.

Then, finding real steps I can take to become more resilient and sustainable. For instance, Don and I continue to expand the number of foods we make from scratch, limiting our buying of things that come in plastic especially but also in glass or cans that must be recycled. We’re also keeping our heat lower this winter and wearing more layers and investing in a local farm through their CSA program.

One of the books that has been a guide in this is Making Home by Sharon Astyk. Excellent, extensive resources can be found on resilience.org.

This is a big, ongoing undertaking, and it includes not just physical resilience steps, but emotional, social, spiritual, and cultural.

Tatterdemalion by Sylvia Linsteadt and Rima Staines

We found this utterly extraordinary novel in our favorite bookstore, Point Reyes Books. The novel imagines in magical, mythic, and poetic ideas, language, and paintings how the coming collapse of civilization as we know it will go down and what comes in the several hundred years after that. So beautiful and wondrous, though also some very hard times. Also, the book is published by a press, entirely supported by crowdfunding, that is committed to publishing books that might not find their way in our profit-driven publishing world.

Adventurous music

We’ve been delving into our CD collection and on the weekends, when we have more space for adventurous listening, enjoying such things as Bartok’s Divertimento for Strings, Penderecki’s Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, and Tuvan throat singing. This feels deeply nourishing to my musical soul, which loves complexity, dissonance, innovation, and unusual sounds.

The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop by Felicia Rose Chavez

This book is an amazing, deep guide to teaching and facilitating writing workshops in a way that not only welcomes and supports writers of all colors but enlarges our world. It’s been surprisingly validating of my own current teaching methods while also offering me places to grow even more as a teacher. So good. I wish every writing teacher and student would read it.

Drum class

Oh my goodness, this is so fun. Don and I are taking a conga drumming class with a local treasure, Robert Scarlett, who has been drumming and teaching for decades. Every Tuesday night we drive down the dark, windy country road and gather with a handful of others to play. We are complete beginners, but after only three classes, we are already making music together on the drums. Learning something new is good for the soul.