{"id":5685,"date":"2017-03-30T10:26:44","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T17:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=5685"},"modified":"2017-03-30T11:09:23","modified_gmt":"2017-03-30T18:09:23","slug":"springtime-and-support-for-the-poetry-chaikhana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/30\/springtime-and-support-for-the-poetry-chaikhana\/","title":{"rendered":"Springtime and Support for the Poetry Chaikhana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring and all its flowers
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 now joyously break their vow of silence.
\nIt is time for celebration, not for lying low;
\nYou too \u2014 weed out those roots of sadness from your heart.<\/p>\n

The Sabaa wind arrives;
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 and in deep resonance, the flower
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 passionately rips open its garments,
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 thrusting itself from itself.<\/p>\n

The Way of Truth, learn from the clarity of water,
\nLearn freedom from the spreading grass.<\/p>\n

~ Hafiz
\ntr. Homayun Taba & Marguerite Theophil<\/em><\/p>\n


\/ Image by rkramer62<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

Spring has come! Daffodils are popping up in forgotten corners of neighbors\u2019 yards. White blossoms spangle once bare branches. Winter brown grasses have found their green again. Light rainfall in the morning, followed by impossibly blue skies. The world is once again waking up\u2026<\/p>\n

=<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t say it often enough, but I want to thank you for the many wonderful, wise, touching, playful emails and blog comments I receive from you all each week. Although I can\u2019t respond to them all individually, I read every one, and they make up an important part of my day. Your notes remind me why the Poetry Chaikhana is so important. And I am so grateful to be able to share my love of this poetry with such an engaged community.<\/p>\n

Over the past year many of you have sent generous donations, either single donations or steady monthly donations, and it is such a great help. Your contributions help me to cover my regular expenses as I dedicate much of my week to the Poetry Chaikhana. <\/p>\n

I want to let you know that your donations mean more to me than their strictly financial value. Beyond the money you have sent in, I know that each donation came from a moment when you decided to change the path of your day, when you stopped whatever you might have been doing to create an online payment account or to sit down and write out and mail in a check. And, of course, access to the Poetry Chaikhana is free. You didn\u2019t have to make a donation at all. You could have chosen to go on with your day instead, but instead you went to the effort to send a donation and possibly even write a personal note of thanks.<\/p>\n

spring rain\u2013
\nall things on earth
\nbecome beautiful<\/p>\n

~ Fukuda Chiyo-ni<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

What your donation tells me is that the Poetry Chaikhana means<\/i> something to you<\/strong>, that it has touched you or inspired you or helped you through a particularly difficult day, so much so that you wanted to reach out personally. It\u2019s not just that you want the Poetry Chaikhana to continue, it is that you want to share your own personal, direct support, that you want to be a part of the Poetry Chaikhana\u2019s support.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t take that for granted. I am humbled and honored by every single donation, whether it is $2 or $200, because I know what it represents to you. I feel the message of support behind it.<\/p>\n

spring rain\u2013
\npond and river
\nare one<\/p>\n

~ Buson<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Even with that wonderful support from several of you, I have to admit that I am struggling to make ends meet right now\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

I like the ideal of the Poetry Chaikhana as a free offering, and I have no intention of changing that. But the truth is that the Poetry Chaikhana is not free. I put significant amounts of my time and energy into gathering the poems and translations, writing up commentary, maintaining the website, and now editing and publishing books. <\/p>\n

I try, through sheer love for the work, to accomplish all of that in the mornings and on weekends without disrupting my regular job, but because of my chronic fatigue\/ME I can\u2019t maintain that pace for long periods without health consequences. Increasingly I am having to choose between paid work hours and the Poetry Chaikhana, and that balance doesn\u2019t always work perfectly. <\/p>\n

I need your help, the help of the Poetry Chaikhana community, to create a more sustainable balance over the long term.<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nIf the Poetry Chaikhana is important to you, please consider making a donation.
\nNow is an especially helpful time to do so.<\/strong><\/font>
\n<\/center><\/p>\n

With several thousand people receiving this email, and many more who regularly visit the Poetry Chaikhana website and Facebook page, we should be able to collectively support my work.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Behind the Scenes<\/strong><\/p>\n

You may wonder what I\u2019m actually doing here on the other end of these poetry emails. Here is a sketch of what my work with the Poetry Chaikhana looks like each morning.<\/p>\n

I often start my morning with a meditation, and then I see which poem seems eager to speak that day. I let my computer suggest a poem at random, and then I try to sense if the poem is \u201cright\u201d for the day. Some mornings I select the first poem that comes up. Other days I\u2019ll spend an hour sorting through possibilities. I try to make sure I have a good balance of spiritual traditions represented over the month. I also make a point of including women\u2019s voices regularly. Occasionally I look for a series of poems that follow a sacred theme or metaphor.<\/p>\n

Once I\u2019ve selected the daily poem, I may spend some time researching the life of the poet so I can pass along a few biographical notes with the poem. \u2028\u2028Then I sit with the poem, contemplate it, speak it aloud, let it dance in my mind, and I watch the ideas rise for my commentary. Occasionally I slip back into meditation and when I emerge the commentary is just waiting to be written out.<\/p>\n

If I feel I\u2019ve said too much in recent commentaries, I may choose to send the poem with just a short, friendly note. And sometimes I come across a poem with a comment I wrote a few years previously, and I think, \u201cI have to share that with everyone again!\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I spend a while searching through photos and art among the Flickr or Deviantart \u201cCreative Commons\u201d libraries and look for one that somehow expresses an image or supports the feeling of the poem.<\/p>\n

I also select a \u201cThought for the Day\u201d from among a list I\u2019ve written out over the years. And I also decide which Poetry Chaikhana books to feature in the email for the day.<\/p>\n

Then I update the Poetry Chaikhana home page and post the poem and commentary to the Poetry Chaikhana blog. I spend a while adding new sign-ups and removing cancellations from the email list. Finally, I format everything and send out the poem email.<\/p>\n

The Poetry Chaikhana poem email goes out to about 9,000 people!<\/em><\/p>\n

Many days I also select a short poem or excerpt to post on the Poetry Chaikhana Facebook page. I often post accompanying artwork, as well. We have another 5,000 fans there.<\/em><\/p>\n

I spend time each month looking for new voices of wisdom in books and on the internet. When I have the time, I try to add new poems and poets to the website.<\/p>\n

Some weeks I also have to maintain and troubleshoot the Poetry Chaikhana database and website. Occasionally, I have to wrangle with spam-blocker sites to convince them that the Poetry Chaikhana emails are not spam.<\/p>\n

I get dozens of emails each week \u2014 which I love! I read every email and, when I can, I send responses. I would love to engage in more email correspondence with all of you, but I just run out of time.<\/p>\n

And I also try to find a few hours every week to work on the next book project.<\/p>\n

\u2026Then I start my day job!<\/p>\n

A few links about me that you might find interesting\u2013<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 Blog posts that touch on my story<\/a>
\n\u2013 14 Things You Probably Didn\u2019t Know About Me<\/a>
\n\u2013 Health, Suffering & Meaning<\/a>
\n\u2013 An audio interview recorded several years ago<\/a><\/p>\n


\n<\/center><\/p>\n


\nSpring has come.
\nWhite hallelujahs
\nfrom the brambles in flower!<\/p>\n

~ Antonio Machado<\/em>
\n<\/center><\/p>\n

Ways you can help:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2013 You can make a secure online donation<\/strong> in any amount through PayPal by clicking the \u201cDonate\u201d button on the Poetry Chaikhana home page at www.poetry-chaikhana.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013 You can sign up for a voluntary monthly donation<\/strong> of $2\/month or $10\/month by clicking either the \u201cSubscribe\u201d or \u201cSupport\u201d PayPal button.<\/p>\n

\u2013 You can send a check or money order<\/strong> in US funds, addressed to:<\/p>\n

Poetry Chaikhana
\nPO Box 2320
\nBoulder, CO 80306<\/p>\n

\u2013 Other ways you can help:<\/strong> Tell friends about the Poetry Chaikhana and encourage them to sign up for the poetry emails, purchase Poetry Chaikhana books, encourage local bookstores to carry Poetry Chaikhana publications, and purchase other poetry books through the links on the Poetry Chaikhana website. All of these help to expand the Poetry Chaikhana, strengthening both its community and its financial foundations.<\/p>\n

I am also grateful for your help through supportive thoughts and prayers. Every contribution, financial and energetic, is sincerely appreciated.<\/p>\n

Thank you so much!<\/p>\n

And may you have a wonderful spring day!<\/p>\n

Ivan<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To goslings
\njust hatched, the entire world
\nis a spring day<\/p>\n

~ Ivan M. Granger<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spring and all its flowers \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 now joyously break their vow of silence. It is time for celebration, not for lying low; You too \u2014 weed out those roots of sadness from your heart. The Sabaa wind arrives; \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 and in deep resonance, the flower \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 passionately rips open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5685"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5685\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5712,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5685\/revisions\/5712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}