Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
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Sometimes A Kiss Can Do That:
unhinge a rusted gate
to let the moonlight in;
send rain to a parched field,
to play the dust like a drum;
release a hollow ache;
warm a stubborn chill;
build a bridge, a raft,
a momentary trust.
Sometimes, through a kiss
we open
to the infinite world
that holds us.
I’m not saying all the time,
but sometimes.
And sometimes
this is enough.
~Ingrid
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You, Love, are my earthly joy,
My village and my song,
My reason, my belonging,
And the good that makes me strong.
With your arms around me
My heart knows blessings, blessed.
With you here beside me
Is how I love life best.
~Ingrid
I love you like a fiddle tune.
I love you like a jig.
I love you like the month of June.
I love you like a fig.
I love you like a hoppy brew.
And a warm down feather bed.
I love you like a dream come true
And berries and butter and bread….
( Ingrid’s note: I don’t actually love figs…but it went so well with jig. Now my secret is out, I promise I am still sincere. … These wonderful candleholders are made by The Mad Potter on Martha’s Vineyard. The video below was sent to me by my friend Heather. It’s so joyful and free and, well, it made me cry happy tears.)
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I rested into the morning, caressed,
deep pleasure, measureless being,
I rested until I heard
the song of the day call me out.
Come. Take joy. Awake.
Come and see my treasures.
Only then did I rise to take
my pleasure into the world.
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I love how Winter takes me
in its cool white arms, and
holds me in a seduction
of silence and elation;
full emptiness hangs in the air
after a night of heavy snow:
the breath of morning comes
a promise, or desire.
And I open as if haunted
for this deep and rich receiving,
inviting the seeds of darkness
to enter the mud of my womb
for a time of fertile waiting
I can not push or name, until
flows a spring of emergence,
celebration, birth, or fire.
Sometimes after months it flows.
Sometimes after one hot prayer.
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
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“Poetry is a life-cherishing force.
For poems are not words, after all,
but fires for the cold,
ropes let down to the lost,
something as necessary as bread
in the pockets of the hungry.
Yes indeed.” ~Mary Oliver
Our poem which is Infinite
(A love poem for my husband)
Tonight your words draw me back
into the poem in which we are living.
It is a rich and merciful poem
and it spins its warm story around us
drawing our bodies down
into the urgency of our belonging.
How is it that we, neither holy nor wise,
could live in this beautiful poem?
It is the fire we tend with our kindling,
the table we cover with bread,
the altar we make bare for offerings,
the pitcher we empty and fill.
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
This week I have been savoring Kim Rosen’s Book, Saved by a Poem. If you love poetry, even if you fear poetry, this is a beautiful invitation to enrich your life through poems. I am tongue-tied, in awe, and cannot recommend her work highly enough.
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“Such blessings we receive,
such gifts of grace.
If we have wandered from the path of gladness,
point us back to life!”
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
Happy Thanksgiving to all. As is my habit, here are some excerpts from my book, Simple Graces for Every Meal. I penned these graces in hopes that they would be comfortable and inspiring in all kinds of company. Joy to you this holiday season, Ingrid
Let us join together
To all who live on Martha’s Vineyard: The Bunch of Grapes Bookstore in Vineyard Haven has honored me with a lovely display. I am very grateful to have a year round outlet for my work there. I’ll also be at the Artisan’s Fair on Friday and Saturday this week, so please come! And my work is available at the Holiday Cooperative Shop on Main Street in Vineyard Haven (near Leslie’s).
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I blame it on the summer whirl- that my latest Joy post-card contained a typo. It’s a small thing really: too many of the word “for”, when the word “to” was intended. As a poet, I am disconcerted. The lines don’t sound pleasing; the repetition is jarring- the blessing becomes much less somehow, and easily dismissed. And so, here it is as it is written in my book, Eternal Song, Blessings for the Path o f Love.
BLESSING
Do good things for each other ~
small kindnesses every day.
Be a comfort to each other ~
a calm shore for turbulent times.
Be good friends to each other ~
remain compassionate and tender.
Lend a thoughtful ear, a gentle shoulder,
an open heart, and a strong hand.
And do good things for each other.
Thank you!
Ingrid
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Life, oh Wondrous Life,
Come fill me up with gladness.
I feast on your generosity;
I bask in your loving light.
Luminous Holy Essence,
Come fill me up with gladness.
Dark Flowering Infinite Universe,
Let me sing your eternal praise.
~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff
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