Camper’s Ode to Friendship

Squee ©2018 Bo Mackison

There’s a squee sign on my kitchen counter
and a mountain of dirty clothes still packed in my suitcase.
There’s a mailbag whose contents I’m reluctant to explore.
If I wait will the holy presence of camp linger even longer?

There’s a fire flickering in my fireplace
but no monster-costumed campers are leaning in
warming their hands and chortling
at the ineffectiveness of paper products as kindling.

Still, I see you, I hear you, I know you all are with me still.

Story Tree, Oh Glory Be © 2018 Bo Mackison

There’s a red maple stretching into the sky just beyond my window
but its branches are a stark silhouette against the gray November sky.
Not one leaf remains; no blaze of glory yellow foliage,
no story tree sign, no campers rolling in the leaves and laughing.

Still, I see you, I hear you, I know you all are with me still.

Rocking Chairs, Cabin 38; Site of Shenanigans ©2018 Bo Mackison

There are no forever friends rocking on my back porch
sharing stories of struggles and victories; telling jokes to shrieks of glee.
The only sounds are the shuffle of the wind through tall grasses
and the squawk of Canada geese flying overhead.

Still, I see you, I hear you, I know you all are with me still.

Camp Mail Bags Filled with Love ©2018 Bo Mackison

I try my hardest to fill four days of camp with memories enough
to last a year, a lifetime even. I memorize your smiles; I recall our conversations.
I hang your art on my studio walls and pin your notes on my bulletin board.
I treasure my horde of 20 thingies as if they’re gifts from the gods — they’re that precious.

All ways to see you, to hear you, to know you all are with me still.

Make a Wish ©2018 Bo Mackison

This year I make a promise to myself– to keep in touch
and not through mental telepathy which leaves a lot to be desired.
No, this introvert will text and pick up the phone. I’ll send postcards and write letters.
I’ll keep the spark of connection shining, oh, so bright. So bright.

Tribute to Lynn Buckler Walsh  (1956-2018) ©2018 Bo Mackison

This year I’ll leave nothing to chance; I’ll not take for granted that we’ll
be together again. My Life-is-a-Verb [life-saver] Camp friends,
I treasure your presence. And no matter how we connect in the future–
across a table, over a phone line, or simply by gazing into a starry sky…

I see you, I hear you, and I know you all are with me still.

~~~~~

We celebrated the life of fellow camper Lynn Buckler Walsh at this year’s Life is a Verb Camp. Tears were shed and our hearts both ached with grief and filled with love in community.

Amazing friendships develop at Patti Digh’s Life is a Verb Camp. Connections with community last a lifetime and more. If you have ever considered LIAV Camp, now is the time to act. Registration is open and discounted registration is available through November 15, 2018.

CONTEMPLATIVE CREATIVES JOURNEY – SPRING 2018: an online workshop

ANNOUNCING THE SPRING SEASON OF THE WOMEN’S WORKSHOP THAT EXPLORES – AND CELEBRATES – THE EXTRAORDINARY IN THE ORDINARY

This gently guided journey with Bo has infused my existing practices with renewed energy. Her exquisite leadership is informed by experience, training and soulful instinct. I consider her a modern mystic. ~Mary Anne Radmacher, author and artist

CONTEMPLATIVE CREATIVES JOURNEY came into being on December 1, 2016 when I officially launched the first WINTER season. Since the initial offer, I have been leading amazing groups of women in creative and contemplative seasonal explorations.

Spring is right around the corner and it’s time to plan for CONTEMPLATIVE CREATIVES JOURNEY – SPRING 2018.

If the words contemplative and creative have a sweet juiciness and you’re interested in a different sort of online workshop, read on.

  • Instead of schedules, I offer serendipity.
  • Instead of a planned curriculum, I offer surprises.
  • Instead of expectations, I offer possibilities.
  • Instead of learned objectives, I offer an always-available way to engage and interact with the world through art, nature and the written word.

I share my practices as they show up in real time. There is a flow – we write, we create art, we observe nature. But there is no plan beyond the present. I choose a theme, often only a day or two before I dive in. Then we explore the theme in depth with writing prompts, contemplative photography, collaborative poetry, and in-your-yard nature observations.

MY SPRING OFFER:

YOU WILL RECEIVE REGULAR AND RANDOM PROMPTS, QUESTIONS, AND EXPLORATIONS.

TOGETHER WE WILL:

  • CREATE ART.
  • WRITE POETRY.
  • LEARN MIKSANG (CONTEMPLATIVE) PHOTOGRAPHY PRACTICES.
  • OBSERVE AND SHARE IN-YOUR-OWN-BACKYARD NATURE.

Together we will explore themes and creative practices that inspire and encourage, elicit wonder and awe, uplift your spirit and feed your soul.

This is not a practice that requires you set aside a certain amount of time each day (unless that is your desire) or complete a lot of projects. You choose whatever amount of engagement feels right for you.

THIS PRACTICE:

  • gently weaves itself throughout your day
  • illuminates the extraordinary in the ordinary, celebrates the uncommon in the common
  • offers ways of interacting with place, highlighting connection with nature, no matter where you live, work and play.
  • is deeply infused with kindness and respect.

A LOOK AT PRIOR SEASONAL OFFERINGS:

Over the course of a season, we typically explore 5 to 8 themes. Each theme may last a week or two and includes reflections, writing prompts, collaborative and shared poetry, mandala and other experential art, and Miksang Contemplative Photography instruction.

We have explored themes such as Silence and Solitude, Ritual and Routine, The Journey, Bounty, Pause – Living the Hours, The Ordinary Everyday, Simplicity, and Wonderment. We have studied and enjoyed artists and poets such as Frida Kahlo, Emily Carr, Marge Piercy, Nikki Giovanni, and Naomi Shihab Nye. We have written collaborative poetry on subjects such as the sacred in the ordinary, our ancestors, and iconic moments from our childhoods.

Here is a sampling from one of the themes offered last Winter:

SIMPLICITY

  • Favorite Quotes
  • The Zen Aesthetic, A Miksang Level Two Practice
  • Sharing Other Women’s Poetry – Contemporary And Traditional Haiku
  • Invitation To Write Haiku
  • Let’s Create Contemporary Haiga
  • Writing The Simplest Poems – Two Word Poetry Prompt
  • Sharing Our Collaborative Poetry – A Day In Our Lives (In Haiku)
  • Sharing Our Photography – Zen Aesthetic Mosaic
  • Creating Mandala Art with Heart

As each theme is completed, it is made available in a PDF for your personal use. A beautifully designed ebook of the complete season’s material is offered to you at the end of the program in a single downloadable file. A copy for you to enjoy and use.

We begin MARCH 15th, 2018.

There is a strong community and collaborative aspect in the group, but it is always invitation and opportunity, never a requirement.

 In community and individually, we explore these themes:

word * vision * place

WORD:

This practice focuses on how to connect — to the world, community, and self — using words. We’ll play with words, explore words, and connect with nature and place using words. We’ll write and share poetry – though you need not consider yourself a poet or a writer to enjoy this practice, as they are all collaborative invitations. We will play with words – tile poetry, chain poetry, and poetry art using found words and pictures.

VISION:

We will explore creating all kinds of mandalas – on paper, in collage, in nature. The photography component of the workshop will focus on Miksang contemplative photography practices. (All types of cameras and skill levels are fine.)

PLACE:

We’ll continue the practice of backyard phenology – the study of nature’s calendar, an ever-present, in-the-present survey of the cycles of plants and animals in your natural world.

Bo Mackison is an insightful, talented and inspirational art, photography and writing creativity coach/teacher. Bo’s wide range of artistic knowledge along with her life experiences makes her the artist and writer’s trusted advisor. I highly recommend Bo as a mentor, teacher, trainer and speaker. ~Jeanette Richardson Herring, Author, Artist, TV and Radio host and producer

QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU CLARIFY:

Are you searching for a place of sanctuary, a place to recharge your inner battery so you can show up bright and energized for the demands of living and thriving in today’s world?

Would you benefit from a creative practice that can be done in free moments? Would you benefit from a contemplative practice that focuses on stronger connections with yourself in the present moment?

WHAT YOU NEED:

You create with the simplest of supplies, things you likely already own/have available.

  • Paper of any sort, i.e. sketchbooks, a journal, ephemera.
  • Any sort of mark-making media you enjoy, i.e. pens, pencils, markers, pastels, paints.
  • Any kind of camera. (Cell phone camera is fine.)
  • Mixed media supplies such as old magazines, household ephemera, a glue stick.
  • A view from a convenient window.
  • Access to Facebook, all content is delivered via a private group.

Whether you have a fully equipped art room or a box of simple supplies you store in a closet, you’ll find new ways to create. Surprises and nudges will get your creative juices flowing. Hints on how to see or create in new ways will offer you unlimited possibilities for exploration and are easily incorporated into your everyday routine. Creativity coaching is a gentle and integral part of the process. “Kindness and respect” is our language of preference.

WHEN:

The SPRING journey is 13 weeks long.  MARCH 15th, 2018 through JUNE 14th, 2018.

HOW:

Private community on Facebook. Everything is delivered to a private Facebook group page and may show up anytime. Surprise and serendipity! You are encouraged to share your discoveries and experiences in the private group however and whenever you choose.

Creative Practices – A Calligraphy Mandala © Bo Mackison

Bo has created a safe and sacred space for creativity to flourish, respite to abide, and healing to occur – no matter what is happening in our internal or external worlds. The vulnerable and honest sharing of her own creative practices has invited me more deeply into my own. I cannot recommend this offering or her heart on others’ behalf highly enough. ~Ronna Detrick, M.Div., speaker and sacred conversationalist

THE COST:

I offer you my knowledge, my skills, my presence and my enthusiasm. The cost for the 13-week journey and an active sharing community is $99.00.

TO RESERVE YOUR SPACE:

Registration is now open.

Link to PayPal Invoice. 

If you would prefer to pay via check, please email me at bo@bomackison.com for details.

I do hope you will join me.

BO MACKISON is an artist, a poet, a photographer, a certified Kaisen Muse creativity coach, a Miksang Photography Instructor, hands-on workshop presenter, and a woman who has spent her entire adult life surviving and thriving using the creative practices she shares. She is the founder of Contemplative Creatives Journey, an Online Workshop. Bo has been offering creative and contemplative programs for women since 2014. She has been told her offerings have changed many people’s lives for the better. She believes this to be true.

Make Acceptance Your Friend. There Will Be Violets.

IMG_0128

I See No Gate…Until I Do  ©2015 Bo Mackison

Stop fixing, stop pushing, stop forcing my will.
All that fixing and pushing and forcing…
none of it makes any difference.

The advice is solid and intellectually
I agree. Of course I see the folly
of relentless effort with no results.

The billy-goat butts a fence and never sees the gate a step away,
I’m fenced in, too, the opening’s within my glance.
Yet with eyes fixed on the ground, I walk in circles.

A gate? I see no gate…until I do.

The whisper of acceptance slips through the gate.
Such a tiny breath it takes as it draws near.

I ignore the whisper. (I’m stubborn that way.)

I hide under blankets where no breeze refreshes.
That doesn’t stop acceptance from nuzzling my ear,
whisper-singing lullabies of ease and calm.

No promises does acceptance offer,
but its ever quiet manner calls attention
to the wisdom of letting go.

My grandfather, he would say
“tell it like it is, then be done.”
He was quiet man, my grandfather, and he was wise.

And I say, I am not sorry.
About the fight. This fight
I swore I’d never quit.

I fought hard in the midst of the whole miserable affair.
Depression as my foe; my best friend, too.
My bed partner and life partner. My lover and destroyer.

I cried the battle cries, bled from nearly fatal wounds.
And now I see, acceptance is the harder battle.

I’m calling it quits. And shaking hands with acceptance.
No more cowering when fear overwhelms,
no smashing glass walls in anger.

All the messes in my life, I’d like to call them friends,
say I’ve learned from those experiences.
Some day I’ll speak those words. With courage.

For the record, it’s been one crap shoot
after another, unpredictable. Risky.
And still, here I stand and say.

This life. It’s a good one.
Violets blossom in the grass, my shoes well soaked with dew.

Flower Mandala – Queen Anne’s Lace

Queen Anne's Lace © 2015 Bo Mackison

Queen Anne’s Lace © 2015 Bo Mackison

 

My Life Manifesto (For Today)

Rainbow

Rainbow in Stormy Sky © 2015 Bo Mackison

This I believe. I am alive.

Fully, completely, eyes-wide-open alive.

There were a hundred times when I could have given up,
said “no more” or made a different choice —
not an easier choice,  just a different choice.

And still, I am alive.

I celebrate the perfect alignment of the stars,
the constant roll of the waves, the greening of spring once more,
and the miracle of my patchwork life.

There are times when I search for my life’s work,
question what I have done of worth, what good am I doing now.

And then, this realization. Stunning.

Thus far, my work has been to survive.
Survival is my life work.
It is good work, worthy work, honest work, hard work.

This. This I need to remember.

When I ask countless questions that have no answers,
when I wonder why; when I tremble with fear
and anxiety; when I grieve; when I despair or doubt.

There is always this.

I am doing my work. That is enough.