Reset

An immersive yoga retreat gave me a reset for... you name it... writing, meditation, outlook, and relating to the world at large. I'm celebrating twenty-five years of teaching yoga in the Washington, DC area (!). And this was my first international week long training. Life has its ongoing demands and obligations, after all. If you have the chance for a reset of some kind or another, take it. 

Ponta Delgado, Azores

Cheers,

Charise

"To Do or Not to Do"

To Do or Not to Do

                for Alex

 

There’s a hole in my to do list

which lets me peer through

to the other side of importance

where a murmuring stream

of consciousness 

breaks down

what is timebound

like water eroding rock

continuously…

the so-called future

mapped out

like geography

becoming flimsy

while the lay of the land

below my windows

shows a gathering of violets

risen from their rhizomes

covering ground better than gossip.

  

~LCMH 

  

 

[Poem was requested by my daughter Alex for her yoga teacher training. Thanks to The River Yoga community in Five Points, Denver for including it as part of their "200 Hour YTT Teach Out" class!]  

When Worlds Happily Collide

For those who have arrived here via The Best American Poetry blog, welcome!
And for those who don't know what I'm talking about, please visit me as guest author of these posts:

• http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2018/01/reading-between-the-lines-by-charise-m-hoge.html

• http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2018/01/we-all-belongto-dance.html

• http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2018/01/our-sedentary-ways-by-charise-m-hoge.html

• http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2018/01/speaking-in-simile-by-charise-m-hoge.html

• http://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2018/01/go-with-the-groove-by-charise-m-hoge.html

In these five posts, January 15-19, dance and yoga converse with poetry––a great start for a new year.

Reading Event

Please join me and the community of City Fitness Gym in Cleveland Park for a poetry reading/sharing/signing event Sunday, October 15 at 11:00 am. This gem of a gym is one of a kind, founded over twenty years ago by two women entrepreneurs and fitness enthusiasts. My gratitude goes to Lucinda and Dega, who have supported my yoga and dance teaching over the years, and whose excitement about the publication of Striking Light from Ashes is the reason for this event! The address is: 3525 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008.

Asana Rhyme

Banking on Yoga

beseeching palms

cupped for alms

a beggar's pose

where limbs repose

leftover leverage

due from the age

of ageless ancients

whispers prescient

raise my heels

poised to feel

wealth is lent

as strength is spent

~ LCMH