On the Way: New Poems by Chris Hoffman

By Chris Hoffman

On the Way is a rich volume of poetry about lifes flourishing, which bridges the gap between our human lives and the healing spirit of nature. It includes poems of the universal spiritual quest, of the exploration of forests, deserts, and mountains, and of love, relationships, and family. It features a poem about the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route across northern Spain that has been transforming lives from the ninth century up through the present day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Nov 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781532011368

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

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Copyright © 2016 Chris Hoffman.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5320-1135-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-1136-8 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 11/29/2016

Cover photo: Santiago as pilgrim, Camino de Santiago, Spain. Photograph © by Chris Hoffman.

Contents

What If You Were Given

Why We Need Wilderness

The Lake at the Pass

At the North Rim

Sketches from a Pilgrimage

Where Worlds Touch

A Prayer for Setting Off

I Want To Remember This

Above Mineral Bottom

Beneath

Kirtan

A Big Rock

When Lovers Find Each Other

Cicatrix

Safe Harbor

Winter Stars from the Mountain Hut

Odessa Lake, Autumn

Working Together

Still More Pebbles

Moon Sequence

I Pass Through Clouds of Steam

Saudade

The Glass Jar

Snow

Approaching Ardhanarishvara

What It Might Be Like

Fish and Owl

Crickets

When

Looking Inward on Wednesday

Invitation

It All Falls Away

I Open My Eyes On This Day

A Handrail Through The Dark

Survivalist

An Encounter in Dreamtime

Status Report

We Go Like Bees

On Winter Solstice Retreat

The High Peaks

Feathers

Surfacing Once Again

Who Are You?

Golden Falls

Amazed

The Three Pots

Touch

Beeswax Candle

Listen to the Breeze at Dawn

For Dad

Charles Harry Hoffman

September 5, 1917 – April 21, 2014

My father gave me

many things,

including his keys

to the music of Bach.

What If You Were Given

another day,

if an angel at your deathbed were to say,

Here. Take. Spend it as you wish.

Breakfast would be especially delicious,

your mouth watering at the chewy

textured landscape of the toasted bagel,

the inexplicable dark savor of the coffee.

And even if you were to stub your toe

that day, you’d be grateful to have a toe to stub.

To what episodes of your life story

would you return; where would you insert

a sliver or two of extra time?

What precious moments would you extend?

What would you do

that you have not already done?

And for whom would you give

some of your precious minutes

to turn and say at last:

I forgive you. I love you. Thank you.

What if that extra day

were just today?

Why We Need Wilderness

The essential first part of the hero’s or heroine’s journey

is getting lost in the woods.

If we don’t know that we are lost

we can never find ourselves.

But when the woods themselves are lost

we are doubly lost.

The Lake at the Pass

(Arapahoe Pass,