Writing as an Art Form

Walk to the park and stand under a tree. The wind will come. When the sound of the wind in the leaves obscures the whine of traffic on the freeway, you will know bliss.

When we write, we distill to essence what we have received from nature, from experience, the sweetest and most bitter times of our lives.

When our writing takes the reader to that place where the sound of words obscures the noise of society and worry, they will know bliss.

In this way is our writing a sacred practice and an art.

Be Still And Know Good

A small meditation:

Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know
I am Good

If Good
Speaks in a still, small voice
and we are created in the image of good,

we too must have a still, small voice
a wise soul
that, when we are still,
will speak to us and tell us what to do...



Is this the conscience, intuition, self?
How do you hear it and what does it say?

Poem for Autumn Equinox

The Last Time
(for Shelley)

The last time I walked over the bridge
a Tibetan prayer flag had broken
free of its mooring
and drifted
into the gutter

I lifted it and tied it to the rail
and when I raised my head a hummingbird
fifty feet above the canyon hovered
inches from my face

Today a huge bird of prey
waits in a distant tree
across the bay a fighter plane
disappears before the sound
of war can reach me

The bird unclasps the branch
and dives
body lit by sun
black- shadowed wings
a span of greatness

I pray it will
and will it to
come closer
so I can name it
falcon, eagle, condor, hawk
yet,
as with so many things
I pray and will
it only flies further from me

(Lately I don't know
who or what I am
may /be
be /cause
I am trying too hard to be
who I thought I was)

Ten years from now I will
be saying
that I would give the world to have
what I have
now



--Star St.Claire, 2010, San Diego

Be On Oprah

My Nashville Singer Girl sent me a link to be on Oprah. I filled it out thinking only of being invited to be in the audience. It asked how an episode of Oprah might have changed your life.

I told the same story to them (the producers) as I've told here (see Blog entries 1-5.)

Then after I hit send I realized it was a link to appear as a guest. Ayeee!
(Not that she will call, she won't. And even so, I don't want to tell it on TV.)
But what if???

Oprah has a habit of asking people, "What do you know for sure?"
What I know is:
NO ONE CAN TELL YOU YOUR FINGERPRINTS ARE MADE WRONG.

Oprah always says, "Dream your biggest dream."
My biggest dream, currently, is:
TO HAVE BARBRA STREISAND RECORD ONE OF MY SONGS.
(the song is called "Believe in Me.")

(Strangely, I did not know I had this dream until I imagined being on Oprah, and what if she asked me about my biggest dream...)

What is your biggest dream?

In Memoriam (Taos Mountain Speaks)

Taos Mountain Speaks

Come to me, Remember
in Silence there is Power
In Stillness there is Peace
You are made of Earth and Stars
You are Free

Face the Sky
Trust the Seasons
Endure Suffering, Keep Giving
Be the Truth
You are Nature

Let Healing Rivers flow from You
Let the Sunset Light your face
Whisper in the Children's Dreams
May your Strength Increase
May your Beauty Increase

When the Wind blows, Sing
When the Storm comes, Stand

-----star saint claire, taos nm, 2003


In Memoriam
Robert Quintana
age 29

Self Preservation

One day last spring I walked to Inspiration point to be alone with the birds and trees and view. A man was there. I thought about self defense.

I thought about the part of me that stayed in my marriage. I have always castigated and denigrated her.

Suddenly she rose up. She would kill anyone who tried to hurt me. It was a lie that kept me in my marriage, she said. It was the ego. It was not her, the self I had long blamed.

I left and walked across the bridge as if it were a pilgrimage.

When I arrived home, this self, this strong survivor, wrote down these words:

Extreme self-preservation involves making those choices which most closely align life with the heart's trajectory.

This is the truth I am trying to live in now.

Late Bloomers

The rows of Jacaranda trees have mostly lost their blooms. But one stood out today, in the mist, fully fragrant, covered in flowers, alone. A late bloomer.


Sometimes the ones you never notice are the ones who finally burst forth beautiful.

The Vacation Driven Life

Once we lived in nature, in a huge abundant playground. Then we lived on farms. Then in cities, in apartments and offices. Now we live inside little boxes, in computers and cell phones. We live inside small boxes and wonder why we don't feel free.

There was a best selling book called The Purpose Driven Life. I'd like to write one called The Vacation Driven Life.

On vacation, we look around, we explore, we relax and wander, forget our worries, and everything seems beautiful, wonderful, new. Because we notice. We are paying attention.

A certain mystic said if we align our bodies with the seasons, we are wise. Summer begins today. The season of vacation. While it's true that inside this box I have found true friends of the heart, I'm considering taking a holiday from posting and email in order to live in the larger world.

I will return in season, if the season so declares.

Ordinary Thoughts While Walking

The longer I live the more I realize (make real) my purpose. My purpose is the apprehension of beauty. No more, no less. The rhythm of nature is so slow, so in tune with the beat of the heart, and the sound of breath. I know this when I am walking in the park. I feel the breath of Eden, sustaining. I slow down.

The rhythm of nature is not out of time with the heart of God in full measure, but it is slow compared to the way that mankind has chosen to measure time...the speed at which society goes. True peace is measured in breath. In this moment, there is stillness.


To apprehend means to understand with the senses, to become conscious of, to grasp. When I apprehend beauty, especially through nature, I feel complete.

Thomas Merton said there is a wisdom in becoming content to live ordinary lives. Who wants that? I thought. But as long as we are grasping for some future thing we think will make our life complete, there is disorder and disharmony. Maybe I am, years after I read it, beginning to grasp what he meant.

There is something ordinary, and also extraordinary about a walk in the park.

The Meaning of Life

About once a year, one or more of my closest friends will get a call from me in which I say, "I have discovered the meaning of LIFE!" Last year it was simply, "ENJOY LIFE."

This year it was, "THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS IS TO ALLOW ONESELF TO BE HAPPY."

My lovely insights are so true and liberating, and last about a day. Until the inner critic, false self, ego, bad angel, whatever you wish to call it, takes over again in my head to eclipse what is in my heart. Sigh.

The knowledge of evil is what stole Eden from us. The more that we can keep our minds in stillness, and innocence, and the more we focus on the beauty of the earth, rather than the pain of the world, the more we will allow life to bring us enjoyment, happiness and peace.

It's simple. But it's not easy. Could it be that happiness is a spiritual discipline?