Cairns: Poems by Chris Hoffman

By Chris Hoffman

Every page of Cairns conveys the sacral, as revealed by the indwelling spirit of deserts, glacial fjords, kitti wakes, bald eagles, bears, and pine forests. Chris Hoffmans vision is prayerful but not preachy. His voice, reverential but never pretentious. If Cairns is anything to go by, one would be pleased to meet him.

Reg Saner, poet and essayist, author of So This is the Map, The Four-Cornered Falcon, etc. and winner of the Colorado Book Award

How did he ever get that much light into this small book? Cairns is the kind of joy bears would want if they were human.

Evan Hodkins, Director of the School of Alchemy

Chris Hoff mans thoughts and imagery evoke a myriad of lifes experiences in a few rich, moving lines. This book is a journey you will be delighted to share.

Francesca Ciancimino Howell, author of Making Magic with Gaia: Practices to Heal Ourselves and Our Planet

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781475986761

Chris Hoffman

Chris Hoffman is an ecopsychologist and poet with a background in organization development (applied group psychology) and counseling. Chris is the author of The Hoop and the Tree: A Compass for Finding a Deeper Relationship with All Life (ecopsychology/spirituality), now in its 20th anniversary revised edition, expanded with a key new chapter: “The Hoop and the Tree for Healing and Transformation.” Chris’ poetry has appeared in his three books: Cairns, Realization Point, and On the Way and also in national publications including Appalachia, The Christian Science Monitor, The Climbing Art, Sea Kayaker, Spiritus, Sufi Journal, and The Chrysalis Reader, as well as in the anthologies The Soul Unearthed and EarthLight: Spiritual Wisdom for an Ecological Age and So Many Voices. He enjoys performing his poetry both solo and in music and dance collaborations. As an organization development consultant and licensed professional counselor, Chris has worked in a variety of clinical and organizational settings, including consulting with a Fortune 500 energy company (from union level to executive), counseling at mental health agencies, and teaching ecopsychology at Naropa University. He holds a BA from Yale University, a Master’s degree from Northeastern University, and an MBA from University of Colorado. Now retired, Chris currently devotes most of his time to writing and to volunteer work for social justice and a livable climate. Chris is a long-time practitioner of Zen and T’ai Chi and has studied traditional psycho-spiritual healing methods and sacred dance. His wilderness experience includes backpacking, mountaineering, sea kayaking, and river running. He and his wife live in Boulder, Colorado. They have one adult son. Website: www.hoopandtree.org

Book preview

Contents

Acknowledgments

Earth & Sky

Put-In, Lee’s Ferry

Redwall Limestone

River Trip to Bedrock

Go to the Holy Desert

Silence on the Desert

Dusk

On the San Juan River

At Cloud Pond

One Day

Backpacking, Mt. Zirkel Wilderness

San Rafael

Morning, River Camp

Psalm

Delicate Arch, Utah

Monhegan Island

Aurora Borealis, Summer

This Evening

The Lathe of the Wind

Kenai Fjords

Go There

A Dream of the New Earth

The Spark

Soul & Spirit

Medicine Bundle

Evening Sitting

To Walk

The Spirit of the Great Bear

Room Full of Moons

Courtship of Bald Eagles

How It Happens

Prayer

After Reading Meister Eckhart

Two Musicians

At the Well

Bear

Biwa

Wherever You Are

O Lord and Lady

Black Stone

Shape-shifting

Winter Solstice 2003

First Encounter

In the Pine Forest

Love & Work

Páho

The Man and the Woman

I Watch Your Body

Baking

In the Cradle of the Morning

My Newborn Son, Crying at 3 AM

Western Lullaby

For My Son, On His Naming Day

After Swimming

Saturday Morning

First Light

Men’s Affinity for Tools

Pleasures of the Kitchen

Putting an Onion Back in the Drawer

Watering the Roots

Work Poem

Some Events

Like Two Trees

Pebbles

Pebbles

Piñon

Meditations on Stones

A Little Night Poem

About the Author

Also by Chris Hoffman:

Realization Point (poetry)

The Hoop and the Tree (psychology/spirituality/native wisdom)

Chris Hoffman’s poems capture both the spiritual essence and day-to-day nitty gritty of life in the canyons. Whether on raft or by foot, countless images emblazon light and shadow, sharply etched skylines and miniscule details, on our consciousness. His words and beautifully sculpted lines reverberate with passion and the intensity of his love for this magical place and space.

—Rick Medrick, E.D., Executive Director,

Outdoor Leadership Training Seminars and

Breaking Through Adventures

I take this book on the road with me, read the poems around sunrise and sunset, and feel both comforted and refreshed as I wander into wild places.

—Stephen R. Jones, author of The Last Prairie, and

Peterson Field Guide to the North American Prairie

A priest of desert and river, Chris Hoffman paints rich and satisfying imagery with his reverent pen.

—Cass Adams, editor of

The Soul Unearthed: Celebrating Wildness and

Personal Renewal Through Nature

Chris Hoffman does not write about things, he writes in things. Dwelling comes first. Poems happen afterwards.

This is not a poet whose narcissism stands in the way of his song. He is humbled by magic. For the sake of everything, he disappears. That’s why his poetry is trustworthy. As with the ancients, he dispenses nectar freely because he doesn’t know what else to do. This is his message: the wilder we get, the gentler we become.

Just by eating such words, filaments of luminosity might sprout from your skull. I recommend this book.

—Evan Hodkins, Director of the School of Alchemy.

For Susan,

once again and always

Singing that song protects the soul

and brings the soul home to its essence.

—Skagit tradition of the Soul Song at birth

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the following publications in which some poems in this volume first appeared. One Day was originally published in The Climbing Art, Volume No. 28, 1995; dandelions and lightning flash, in Frogpond Vol. XVII:1, Spring, 1994; autumn aspen in Frogpond Vol. XVII:3, Autumn, 1994; "Evening Sitting" in Primary Point, Volume 14, Number 1—Spring 1996; At Cloud Pond in Appalachia, June 2002; Monhegan Island in Appalachia, December 2004; A Dream of the New Earth in PanGaia #27, Spring, 2001; Kenai Fjords in Sea-Kayaker, February 1995, and in Adams, Cass (Ed.). The Soul Unearthed (New York: Tarcher/Putnam, 1996); Saturday Morning in the The Christian Science Monitor, May 14, 2003; The Spark in EarthLight, Spring 2003; Medicine Bundle in EarthLight, Spring 2005. Some poems in this