Desire

- Alice Walker

My desire
is always the same; wherever Life
deposits me:
I want to stick my toe
& soon my whole body
into the water.
I want to shake out a fat broom
& sweep dried leaves
bruised blossoms
dead insects
& dust.
I want to grow
something.
It seems impossible that desire
can sometimes transform into devotion;
but this has happened.
And that is how I've survived:
how the hole
I carefully tended
in the garden of my heart
grew a heart
to fill it. 

from: The World Will Follow Joy. Copyright 2013.

 

WORLD HABITAT DAY and A POLITICIAN WHO IS A WORTHY ROLE MODEL for all of us

Since 1986, the United Nations has designated the first Monday in October as World Habitat Day. World Habitat Day’s purpose is to call attention to the current global state of the human habitat and push toward adequate housing for all.

We hope that by raising awareness and advocating for universal decent housing we can dismantle and alter the systems that reinforce and entrench poverty housing and make an affordable, decent place to live a reality for all.

Kristina Cummings and her 3-year-old son, Kaleb, 

in front of their new home in Birmingham, Alabama.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

THE CARTER CENTER

For one week every year, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, help put poverty housing front and center in the global consciousness and conscience. The Carter Work Project is an annual reminder of the desperate, ongoing need for decent, affordable homes worldwide. But it is also a reminder of the power of hope and the strength in numbers.

FROM: (For Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter of Plains, Georgia)

© 2010 By Alice Walker

You want to grow old

Like

The Carters;

Curing blindness

&
Building houses

For

The Poor;

Making friends of those

Who believe

They must fight.

You want to grow old

Like

The Carters

Holding hands

With someone

You love

&
Riding bicycles

Leisurely

Where the ground

Is well known

& perfectly

Flat.

You want to find

And keep to the path

Laid down

Inside you

Such a long time

Ago.

You want to grow old

Like

The Carters:

Serene. Eyes

Twinkling

To be accused

Of

Not getting

It right.

Upfront, upright.

Speaking what to you is true.

Before you knew you owned it

Alice Walker (1944 - present)

Expect nothing. Live frugally

On surprise.

become a stranger

To need of pity

Or, if compassion be freely

Given out

Take only enough

Stop short of urge to plead

Then purge away the need.

Wish for nothing larger

Than your own small heart

Or greater than a star;

Tame wild disappointment

With caress unmoved and cold

Make of it a parka

For your soul.

Discover the reason why

So tiny human midget

Exists at all

So scared unwise

But expect nothing. Live frugally

On surprise.

TRUTH

No matter how hidden the cruelty,
no matter how far off the screams of pain and terror,
we live in one world.
We are one people.

Alice Walker

A NOTEWORTHY ADDITION

You may notice an addition to my list of blogs (Fellow Travelers) is Alice Walker's blog. I found it by accident and was drawn in. She calls it "My Living Book." How wonderfully appropriate.

I have always loved her poetry and respected her as a person. Today, her words contribute to my humble musings of the past few days.

Please enjoy, and visit her own blog and website, both linked here.

The World Has Changed
by Alice Walker
December 7, 2008

The World Has Changed:
Wake up & smell
The possibility.
The world
Has changed:
It did not
Change
Without
Your prayers
Without
Your faith
Without
Your determination
To
Believe
In liberation
&
Kindness;
Without
Your
Dancing
Through the years
That
Had
No
Beat.
The world has changed:
It did not
Change
Without
Your
Numbers
Your
Fierce
Love
Of self
&
Cosmos
It did not
Change
Without

Your
Strength.

The world has
Changed:
Wake up!
Give yourself
The gift
Of a new
Day.

The world has changed:
This does not mean
You were never
Hurt.
The world
Has changed:
Rise!
Yes
&
Shine!
Resist the siren
Call
Of
Disbelief.
The world has changed:
Don’t let
Yourself
Remain
Asleep
To
It.
***

Copyright © Alice Walker 2008

NEW FACE

I have learned not to worry about love;

but to honor its coming

with all my heart.

To examine all the dark mysteries

of the blood

with headless heed and

swirl,

to know the rush of feelings

swift and flowing

as water.

The source seems to be

some inexhaustible

spring

within our twin and triple

selves;

the new face I turn up

to you

no one else on earth

has ever

seen.

- Alice Walker, USA

Aint' I A Woman! A Book of Woman's poetry From Around the World, Edited by Illona Linthwaite