Focus...and Happy New Year!

New Year Resolve

The time has come
To stop allowing the clutter
To clutter my mind
Like dirty snow,
Shove it off and find
Clear time, clear water.

Time for a change,
Let silence in like a cat
Who has sat at my door
Neither wild nor strange
Hoping for food from my store
And shivering on the mat.

Let silence in.
She will rarely speak or mew,
She will sleep on my bed
And all I have ever been
Either false or true
Will live again in my head.

For it is now or not
As old age silts the stream,
To shove away the clutter,
To untie every knot,
To take the time to dream,
To come back to still water.

— May Sarton, from Collected Poems, 1930-1993

I did not write the above poem. I happened upon it yesterday and knew I needed to include it in my first blog post of 2013. It's so beautifully expressed...I need to check this poet and her writings out further! Her poem speaks perfectly of what I want for the upcoming year, which is to FOCUS...to be less affected by the daily stressors and distractions that clutter my brain (and that take away the "silence of the mind" so needed for creativity). Focus is my word for 2013...it is something I continually struggle with. And unfortunately, the older I get, the more I seem to struggle with focus!

As for my blog this year, my intention is to simply have fun. I want to share my creative joy with this wonderful community of people I've met here. I'll post about things I love: photography, my passion for poetry (and perhaps sparking that passion in others), digital photo art, iphoneography, and some occasional dabbling with art and crafty things. No rhyme or reason - just whatever is feeding my creative spirit on any given day. I look forward to it! Wishing you all a very Happy 2013!

Note: My image above was taken with my iPhone, and processed completely on my phone with my camera apps. Apps used: Snapseed, Big Lens, Realbokeh, and Over.