To the NEW YEAR, 2015... JOY as ONE...

To the NEW YEAR, 2015... JOY as ONE...

Looking back to days now gone, now past
Looking to the future, days new, days vast
This NOW, what we perceive it to be
A choice ever held by a you, by a me
Many a decision, ours to reach, to make
From the domains of thought and vision we partake
A mind with purity of purpose, intent and direction
Is itself life's questing passion and perfection
Shaper we are of each yesterday and a tomorrow to come
We with the MAKER, our will as JOY as ONE.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

Image: Janus
Roman Republican Janus coin, c. 225-212 B.C.
www.vroma.org/.../ janus_vienna.jpg

In Roman mythology, Janus (or Ianus; "archway") was the
god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings and endings.
His most prominent remnant in modern culture is his namesake,
the month of January, which begins the new year.

Blessings onto All in this Season of Light

P A U S E ...

      

A deeper breath ... a meditative moment ... sweet silence ... an embracing PAUSE... and the calling of

                                Passion
                                          Ascension
                                                        Unity
                                                               Soul
                                                                     Eternal ... be heard...

gone the echoes and laments of days past

anew BE this mind, this heart, within soul cast
a child of the universe and Creation's grace
ever evolving within the depths of soul's place
confront and resolve be the calling command
within this faith held is libation's hand
nature's knowing and guidance true
life in new splendor brought on to you
shackled no more for I am free as the wind
silent no more for I am the thunderous storm
despairing no more for I am the dawning day
thirsty no more for I am lakes and rivers clear
lost no more for I am each guiding star
confined no more for I am vistas wide and far
hungry no more for I am bounty and harvest divine
this the awakened faith mine
the awakened
the awakened
the awakened faith mine. 

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

Awakened Faith, APOGEE Vibrational Art, www.thesoundinglight.blogspot.com 

©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2014.

"...we are as the flute..." in Dedication to JARELL, a flute player...

We are as the flute, and the music in us is from thee;
we are as the mountain and the echo in us is from thee. RUMI

Breath... And I listen...

When breath becomes a sounding grace
Within it finds a sacred place
When breath becomes a lilting sublime
Within it finds the knowing divine
When breath becomes the life it gives
Within the spirit the splendor lives.

These sounding gestures a lilting grace
Hands, lips, with breath and love to place
Heard be this music and known be our heart
From which the blessings of breath shall not depart.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

Grace Be Faith, APOGEE Vibrational Art, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2014.

This Thread...

This thread that calls to be woven in this cloak of life

This thread with its texture, its glitter, its softness, its strength

This thread spun from the passions, the quest, the alchemy of BEING

This the thread woven into all that IS

A weaver divine offers this thread

So woven be a cloak from the golden fiber of SELF.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Image credit: popspeaking blog.

Rhapsodies...

Rhapsodies Mine

words to echo the depths of passion and desire
those that capture moments of rapture's fire
the lover's embrace that holds silent the pain
within the folds of beauty our truth we so name
we and another in shared vision and a knowing quest
become the ocean waters as they flow and crest
an ecstasy within that breathes life divine
blessed be these rhapsodies mine.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

Rhapsodies, APOGEE Vibrational Art, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2014.

"... But poets, or those who imagine and express this indestructible order, are not only the authors of language and of music, of the dance, and architecture, and statuary, and painting: they are the institutors of laws, and the founders of civil society, and the inventors of the arts of life, and the teachers, who draw into a certain propinquity with the beautiful and the true that partial apprehension of the agencies of the invisible world... Poets, according to the circumstances of the age and nation in which they appeared, were called, in the earlier epochs of the world, legislators, or prophets: a poet essentially comprises and unites both these characters. For he not only beholds intensely the present as it is, and discovers those laws according to which present things ought to be ordered, but he beholds the future in the present, and his thoughts are the germs of the flower and the fruit of latest time..." A Defence of Poetry, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Golden Crest

...a deep breath...color at play...and so it is...

Golden Crest

God's gifts to be known 
By the bounty of earth shown
God's voice to be heard
In the hearing of HIS WORD
For life given unto me
For flowing waters of the sea
For the feel of your love divine
For this moment in grace mine
Each moment, day and passing year
In gratitude for life evermore dear
A knowing of an inner spirit of calm
God's love shielding me from harm
Gentle be the winds now that blow
Upon my face sun's warming glow

Feel I the golden crest of  grace this day

'Tis the knowing joy of THE WAY

In joyful reverence a moment gifted new

God's love, praise and favor unto you.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Golden Crest, APOGEE Vibrational Art,  ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2014.

And this in JOY...

click on image for larger view

When a POET is put to cooking... savor it is...

The apple rests in the palm of my hand
Here I hold the bounty of God's command
Quartered, peeled and cut in preparation
Applesauce to be the transformation
Maple syrup for that hearty sweet touch
Cinnamon sticks, lemon juice not too much
Plumb raisins for added texture and flavor
Cook and stir, oh such aroma to savor
Applesauce made with love and set aside
Jars to hold delight and a bit of Mama's pride.

Happy Thanksgiving

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Photo: Applesauce, Collectible Clicks, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2014

The MUSIC, the PASSION, the FIRE of BEING... APPASSIONATA...

"Appassionata"

This pulsating pleading passion

rapture and pain

ecstasy grasping for the eternal

fleeting frivolity

thunderous echoes of silence

maudlin, tempered and dark

despair dispelled

the sounding ascension

awakening

movements of innocence

joyful exuberance

the spirit as itself

all sound

all silence

being

quell not these passions

the yearning fires of the soul

devour pain and loss.


Rose Marie Raccioppi

APOGEE Poet

Appassionata Sonata, APOGEE Vibrational Art, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2014.

HOROWITZ - Beethoven APPASSIONATA op.57 1st mvt. - YouTube ~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVMJTQpQ0FA#t=275

Alphabet in Praise ~ The Sounding Grace in WORD.

~ click on image for a larger view ~

In sharing grace...

As we prepare, as we look to our lives in sharing grace...

Thanksgiving Unto You...

held yet ever so free
this feeling of gratitude grant I unto thee
within this heart and mind of mine
the graces of life, spirit and time
the past and present visions greet
people, places and memories sweet
abundance and bounty, the harvest be known
the gift of labors, the seeds be sown
seedlings and bloom, our blessings received
within all be the Creator conceived
breath and BEING in celebration anew         
this a Thanksgiving unto you.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York 

The Veteran in a New Field, 1865, oil on canvas, Winslow Homer, 1836–1910.

Painted through the summer and fall of 1865, not long after the nation came to grips with Robert E. Lee's surrender and mourned President Lincoln's assassination—both of which occurred during the second week of April—Homer's canvas shows an emblematic farmer who is a Union veteran, as is signified by his discarded jacket and canteen at the lower right. The painting seems to blend several related narratives. Most soldiers had been farmers before the Civil War. This man, who has returned to his field, holds an old-fashioned scythe that evokes the Grim Reaper, recalls the war's harvest of death, and expresses grief upon Lincoln's murder. The redemptive feature is the bountiful wheat—a Northern crop—which could connote the Union's victory. With its dual references to death and life, Homer's iconic composition offers a powerful meditation on America's sacrifices and its potential for recovery.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

~ 

Lincoln's Signed Proclamation for Thanksgiving
A Proclamation

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,

Secretary of State

C R Y S T A L light...

As I look into my crystal sphere... 

galaxies of light speak the beauty, 

the essence of BEING ever within us... 

and too, the WEB of light in rainbow hues, 

ever spun of love and knowing... 

the brush upon palette and canvas, 

the pen with word, 

the creation perceived, 

the pulsing quest in heart... 

this the MUSE... 

the crystal light of BEING... 

Rose Marie Raccioppi

APOGEE Poet

Photo: Crystal Sphere, Collectible Clicks, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2014.

C O L O R ...

A palette of color from nature's grace
Bloom and beauty upon Earth so placed
A tree, a flower, a gem, 'tis creation divine
Behold each in its season of time
A palette of color unto me
And so a Moment of Freedom as soul's decree.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
APOGEE Poet

Moment of Freedom, Watercolor, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi,www.apogeeart.com

Fallen Leaves Laden...

The sounding rain, fallen leaves laden and ever so still,  the S I L E N C E ... calls ...

to the Spirit

to the I AM

to the Love

to the Ever Present

to the Nurturing

to the Creator

to the Eternal...

Season's  S I L E N C E  in a pulsing refrain...  

 ....so beautifully they answer to the wind... rustling melodies there be...

Rose Marie Raccioppi
APOGEE Poet

Fallen Leaves, Collectible Clicks ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2014.

She's Alive... Beautiful... Finite... Hurting... Worth Dying for... EARTH the pulse, HEART the pulse... each the spell of the other...

EARTH the pulse HEART the pulse... each the spell of the other...

And so...

Abundance BE

Ravage not the land nor sea

Heed the echoed cry and plea

Heard in the crashing wave and thunderous sky

In valleys, plains and mountains high

Hold this Earth in reverent care

Protect our gifts of land, water and air

Take not in abuse a mineral or gem

Behold the wonder of each bloom, leaf and stem

Trees to flourish, 'tis bounty's call

The knowing grace of Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall

Earth, animals, a you, a me

Nurture wise and abundance be.

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York 

YES, Vincent you knew...

As the leaves move to the call of the winds, as the autumn colors paint the sky... felt is the pulsing of change... this so beautifully expressed by Vincent Van Gogh... Vincent perceived the vibrating energy of light. He captured the quivering, pulsing fields that embraced his vision. All was moving, all was dimension, all was effect. 

Within be the gems of time... the green of emerald, the russet of garnet, the yellow of topaz, the orange of citrine, threads of silver, threads of gold, threads of ebony... holding to the pulsing light ... holding to the pulsing light... Yes, Vincent you knew ...

"And now I think I know what you tried to say to me

how you suffered for your sanity
how you tried to set them free. "

And I in turn,

Vincent, yours is a world known to me
And I grasp at this meaning of Be
Light and fields, people and purpose defined
And I in plea proclaim do not confine
Bar restraint and perception veiled
Vincent your gift of knowing has prevailed
With awe and sighs anew your art so perceived
And blessed for the inexplicable conceived.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York

Wheat Field Behind Saint-Paul Hospital with a Reaper, Painting, Oil on Canvas, Saint-Rémy, September, 1889, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany, Europe, Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890.

BRAVO! APPLAUSE!!

 "Gathered with conviction and many a sign..."

"Stand they did with determination in heart..."

BRAVO!! APPLAUSE!!

A vision of sustainability you to hold

No false promise will you be sold

Discernment, TRUTH be your plea

Awareness, revelation a defined decree

Reaching out with faith ever new

A community in gratitude onto you

Time and effort with inspiration shown

And so a VICTORY be it known.

Friends and family yours and mine

Gathered with conviction and many a sign

Stand they did with determination in heart

From which change has its noble start

Waters imbued with nature's grace

This upon our tables shall we place

To health and wellbeing let us rejoice

For heard be our united voice.

In gratitude,

Rose Marie Raccioppi

Poet Laureate

Orangetown, New York

Plan for a Desalination Plant Is Halted by New York State Officials - NYTimes.com

At the hearing and in subsequent communications, I focused on the meaning of RESOLVE... each letter offering a plan of action, a viewpoint, and a sustainable concept... a word now validated in each of its calling letters. APPLAUSE indeed to all.

RE: Proposed Desalination : Issues Conference

If indeed there is merit in a particular approach there is to be no hesitation in gathering all the information sought, have all the questions clearly answered, issues clarified, assurances delineated. 

The word RESOLVE itself defines the line of inquiry that is more than justified...

R - what are our water Resources and how are they being administered to assure equitable distribution 

E - what are the Economic concerns both immediate and long range 

S - what are the Sustainability concerns 

O - what Other solutions need be explored 

L - have all Liabilities from this proposed process been considered 

V- what Verification is there that the treatment process poses no health risk 

E - what are the Environmental concerns/repercussions throughout the area... 

Yes, it is indeed warranted that Orangetown, in representing its constituents and their well being, call for and approve an Issues Conference. More information and clarity is to assure a fully thought out process that may itself define other viable alternatives and measures.

Respectfully,

Rose Marie Raccioppi

S I L E N C E

S I L E N C E

The quiet resounds
The silence speaks, the silence sings
The quietude echoes the breath
The stillness echoes the heart
Embraced by a timelessness
Held by the spirit of ONE
The pause, the meditative moment
ALL IS the PRESENCE
The breath, the breath, the breath
The breath of BEING
The quiet resounds.

Rose Marie Raccioppi
Poet Laureate
Orangetown, New York


Interface, breath and being, APOGEE Vibrational Art, ©Rose Marie Raccioppi, 2014, www.thesoundinglight.blogspot.com