Earth is Breathing

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EarthIs

BreathingA Collection of Poems and PhotographsBy Anton Elohan Byers and Sierra Byers


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Earth

Is

Breathing


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A work of arts in cooperation with

and appreciation of our EarthPoetry by Anton Elohan ByersPhotography by Sierra Byers

A word on process:

The poetry and photography contained in this compilation

was created separately over the course of the years from

2005 to 2014. To match each poem with a photo brought a

depth of expression we only realized upon embracing

each piece as a part of a larger whole and then seeking the

piece that was missing. What was revealed by nding

larger and fuller visions and expressions through coopera-

tion was its own unexpected

and immensely fullling reward.


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Earth Is Breathing

Copyright 2014 Anton Elohan Byers and Sierra Byers

All work is original and produced by the authors, with the excepons of cited quotes.All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or me-

chanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any informaon storage retrieval system without

the wrien permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotaons embodied in crical arcles and


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Art is our deepest hidden obsession and to create it together is

like revealing that secret to ourselves to as if we didnt know it

was in us, both astonished and amused by the obviousness we

have unearthed--like a child that nds endless joy in making

itself laugh. Becoming that child together in the joy of creating

reveals an ever-rising river of energy erupting into the now, the

sensation of intertwining and merging ows glorious beyond

words or images.

Sierras photography could seem a synthesis between the sim-

ple and the profound, but it needs no eort to be thatshe

sees with the eyes of the soul of curiosity. Her talent is in herartistic honesty as much as anything, and to me there is noth-

ing more vibrant and soulful.

Earth was not chosen by us as a subjectit is our orientation in

all things and is the spawning ground of everything we do.

It chose us the moment it was born like it chose you. To

express our love for it is a privilege beyond measure.

Anton Elohan Byers

March 2014

Foreword

Anton


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Foreword

Sierra

Nature is my rst teacher.

Its natural beauty and smells have taken my eyes and heart on

magnicent journeys.

Its simple treasures captivate me and inspire my simple photo-

graphs.

I do not own or use a professional camera, equipment or pho-

tographic software.

All of my photographs in this book have been taken with a cell

phone camera during my outings in nature.

I do not set out with an intention to capture anything specic

on any given day.

I do not spend time thinking about lighting, setting a shot up

or perfection.

Im drawn by resonance with something and simply attempt to

capture it in that moment.

This creative collaboration with my husband Antons nature-

inspired poetry has given a voice to some of my photographs.

Nature is still my forever teacher.

Sierra Byers

March 2014


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Anton is a writer, poet, artist and catalyst for easing the human

condition and personal and spiritual growth through alignment

with our natural design. His background and education include

anthropology, meditation, esoteric arts, bodyworking, culinary

arts, and natural tness and nutrition. These components in-form his nature-based primary orientation for perception,

wellness and expression. More of his developing work can be

found here on his blog.

Sierra is a photographer and healing arts professional who has

studied Hatha Yoga, meditation, Buddhism and natural health.

She is currently writing a nature-themed childrens book, is a

whale research volunteer and remains an activist for no captiv-

ity.

About Us
http://blog.intuisdom.com/http://blog.intuisdom.com/http://blog.intuisdom.com/


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Nature is a poem

Now the ears of my ears awake and

the eyes of my eyes are opened.

--e.e.cummings


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I Am The Stars Tomorrows

I am the dreams

of the stars tomorrows

a fountainhead

on the tip of a pin

the moon, my heart,

a nightly reminder

I live in the slipstream

of eternal spin

I am the transient,

lucid form

a rush of liquid silence

erupting from the dark

nascent matter and emotions

of universal purpose

a twisting, looping, glowing

golden arc

some day I will leave this terran soil,

but Ill be back again

as a twinkle in the starlit sky,

as the shapes of love that change,

but never end

~Anton Elohan Byers


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Touching Hidden Places

What brings me home

is walking through the bones

of red-brown beauty,

canyons embraces

hidden owers

snaking spaces

why have we nottraveled this space

together

in orgasmic haste as

hearts open,

seeking

upturned

inquisitive

sun-kissed faces

~Anton Elohan Byers

between the rocks

where water races

through tiny green

geometric traces

to pour out through

a whole

some call gods

secret embraces

thats me and you

face to face

cheek to cheek

touching hidden places

this brings me home

touching

erupting

hidden places


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Wonder Out Loud

Turning softly

round the bend

warm wind touches

now and then

further fed by

dirt and sun

breasts heaving

loping run

cannot reach

the stars so far

but they give birth

inside my heart

sometimes I hear

a darkened worry

insects planning,

insects scurry

I hear bugs scratching

out their burrows

large and small,

worlds in worlds

~Anton Elohan Byers

hunger calls

I turn and go

catch my dinner

by the toe

I climb the treeand eat the fruit

and oer back

whats hot and true

what Ive got

I give out loud

I scream and dance

turn and shout

what visits me

I give back out

drops are falling

from the sky

adorn my face

as if I cried

but its delight,

an earthen love

whats below

I see above

my heart and ngers

touch soft and rough

I am naked

and thats enough


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Wind and Sea

When her hand uncurled

I found you

like a string of earthly pearls

cast just so upon the sand

an act of wind and sea

a gift of elementals

stardust found its place

for this moment, for me

a ower from wind and sea

there is no love

like warm grains of sand

nestled against seaweed fronds

no right or wrong

breaks the song

the moon, the sun

the wind, the sea

the surf is all the music

well ever need

when you are home with me

well forever dance from star to star

but right now

you are home with me,

my love

~Anton Elohan Byers


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What Ive Missed

Looking left and right

I spin and stumble through the night

of discontent and disconnect

the elusive moment lurks,but not here

that is,

not left or right

I am the frozen balance point

caught between

a direction of moments

staring at the wall

and not the hall

both hands push

the immovable object

blind to the prevailing winds of

the irresistible force

yet

in the quiet fatigue

of forgetting what I know

the left pulses to the right

across my body

revealing an intersection of ow

never that

always this

not left or right

~Anton Elohan Byers

so easy to be dismissed

until youve unwound

under the branches

of fractured expectations

in the darkest night

the smell of owing, living mist

this lovely fragrance

is what Ive missed

one day

we celebrate

as if there is a start

a mistake of dimension

lets nd that rivers present

lets nd that moving heart

under the branches

of fractured expectations

in the darkest night

its never that

and always this

this is what Ive missed.


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False Pearls

The negatives are false pearls

agging their missions

attracting attention

to the ipside

the marriage of worlds

apart in mind

but whole when unfurled

now just baubles on a dress

tossed in a closet

with the other things

that previously mattered

that made you you

until you hatched

and brought the naked

to life

I say thank you to false pearls

to the shells of our world

bejeweled and irrelevant

revealing the faux

frames the doorway

totruth

~Anton Elohan Byers


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Dance With the One Who Brung YaWhen seeking

open your soul

and ask

but accept no

recorded answers

what is the answer

to my suering

is not a question

like in a conversation

asking for a recipe

written on an index card

handed downby a deity

who rst burned a bush

because it was

the lingua franca

of some yesterday

and somehow

that's proof

someone knew

but not you

~AEB

When seeking

open your soul

and ask

but ask like asking for water

from the sky

not expecting an answer

just stating a need

and recognize

your question

is just a blinded angle

of the whole

standing like a sentry

with one-sided eyes

separating and protecting you

from what

exactly

When seeking

strip yourself naked

recognize

you are still you

without the guise

and while

embracing the whole

something rises

now every wave and body

can intermingle

can carry the music

soyou can dance

with the one who brung ya


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Chewing Yesterday

Going through the motions

like I was chewing real food

between zero and one

in a slender envelope of mood

I cant make out the avor

extremes are mitigated

by the din

of all these sounds

that sound the same

so

I think Im in

skipping past emotions

theyre going out of style

driving down the map

east to west to east again

itll be a while

sifting through the potions

oered from the start

dizzy, shifting glimmers

perpendicular to the heart

d touches

now and then

further fed by

dirt and sun

breasts heaving

loping run

cannot reach

~Anton Elohan Byersfar

but they give birth

I reach out to touch you

but my hand slides to the side

my ngers feel the coins

with which to ride the ride

my aim seems strange and clumsy

but everyones the same

we share a tiny future

inside a tiny frame

I think I may be going

perpendicular to the heart

Im just going through the motions

I have been from the start

I cant make out the avor

but it tastes like

yesterday

I give out loud

I scream and dance

turn and shout


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Mirrored Mind

The mirrored mind repeats

words as proof

evidential feats

of existence

of a place, a stationan ordered universe

not gifted with patience

we ash the stars upon the wall

mystery controlled

symbols loop and call

us by name

chaining each brain

perhaps some dice

to shake things up

to think its fresh

but thats the edge

therefore the end

of the party

and repeat

~Anton Elohan Byers


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Hidden by the Signs

Silence is never pure

thats not its role

ever rippled

weaving textures

silenceis eventful

abackdrop to the whole

silence is the context

the underlayment

of living

the font

ofgiving

silence is rich

composted yesterdays

all the children

know this place

silence is never pure

but relative

to obfuscation

by disoriented design

silence is the place

into which we heap the signs

silence is never pure

its just hidden by the signs

~AEB


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And Then I Started to Cry

When I realized I was alive

now and not then

that I was participating

if only now and again then

that my choice was in every moment

to tap the river rising that is never spent

and that one and every one

freed me forever from when

and then

I started to cry

tears of gold and diamonds

owers and singing birds

of mysterious earthly elements

in a rain of heaven

meeting rmament

all ung far

brought back to love again

and I knew

the pearl

was the whole green world

erupting through my heart

and then

I started to cry

when I knew

that everything I had taken from myself

was back again

where it never left

that living lives

now

and not then

~Anton Elohan Byers


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The Dreams of Your Dreams

The dreams

of your dreams

are really the cracks

in between

are really the light of the sun

are the source of the love

are your undoings undone

the dreams

of your dreams

are really the cracks

in between

the bars of your heart

held so close

like theyll fall apart

the dreams of your dreams

are trying to get through

there is no mystery

nothing to do

just

let them in

~AEB


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I Earned this Peace

I cant hold on

to this lie

I have been told to believe

and I tried

but it never worked out

I never connected

I never found

what I believed and expected

wanting to be heard

to be understood

to gure it out

to do good

Obvious things

it seemed

and yet

it seemed

they were only dreams

~Anton Elohan Byers

I am letting go

out of choices

jumping from a window

of the captive voiceless

I land in my heart

I nd a part

of the whole beseeching

incandescence

without reaching

I learn

when I jump

when I release

I earn

the nameless

the peace

I earned this peace

by releasing

g

open your soul

and ask


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Sweet Rustles Sing

clear sweet chimes draw me out and inward

and then

papery, rustling breathing

dry-aged leaves caressing each other

like leathery lovers

in a free concert of nuance

tugs my heart and I veer

over here

here I hear the chord

the cord

the vibration that takes me there

involuntary smile

warm shudder moving through

a contented while

and in the end

the nature of the wind

is my love for you

my deepest, living love for youshe sings and sings

she brings, she brings

my deepest love

for you

thus

this moment brings me

to you

every ber

every pulse

every icker

reaching through

becoming you

~Anton Elohan Byers


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Its Not the Norm My Words Are Born

It's not the normmy words are born

like birds across the sunset sky

like sh that frolic in dappled pools

like tiny songs that y

Not every day

can I nd my truth to say

with a heart clear and free

my love for you bears an ocean's soul

from sea to ever deeper sea

~Anton Elohan Byers

Happy birthday, my sweet love Sierra...


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If My Soul Could Sing

If my soul could sing

anything

it would sing along the river banks

it would serenade the bees

it would careen between the hills

it would waft amongst the trees


anything

it would dance with brown dwarves,

gas giants and nebulae

it would shimmer into faery dens

it would whisper there is a way


anything

it would embrace the majesty

it would entreat the choir

to sing along and make it strong

to celebrate our precious heart of re

But it turns out my soul can sing

it sings everything it sees

it laughs, it calls

Im free, Im free, Im free

~Anton Elohan Byers


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A Thousand Things, But One

transcending a thousand things to one

erupting from one to a thousand things

petals and balloons in textured rhythms,

the thousand dance

waving, lovely, fevered dances

but one remains our true romance

~Anton Elohan Byers


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Return Her Savage Heart

Awaken, ye, with all your might and take back your savage soul with a lions hea

let it share the mothers thrumming, coursing, torrid pulse

love and live dancing with abandon on her fruited plains

surrender to her whispered secrets,ride her wild ride

then give back what you take from her

and give her all youve got

return the fragrance and the wonder

the heated blood, the raucous dew

return the savage heart and soul she gives to you

her destiny is your legacy--

not foretold but told

when you tell them with your life

~Anton Elohan Byers


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Radiant and Speechless, I

neither wave nor particle,

but ood of life undaunted by what could be or should be

owing unrepentant, visceral and alive even in dark days

slips the hold of the mighty and the few

radiant and speechless, I

witness the milk of life slip past the gate of thought

into the freedom of the calling sky

and return again as my beholding eye

~Anton Elohan Byers


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Earth Is Breathing

Earth is breathing

ood waters seething

belly and breast

magmic seeding

moaning

lusting

panting

thrusting

mountains rising

iron rusting

Earth is bleeding

mother lovers

inserting

needinggiving

feeding

seas and seasons

all unreasoned

~Anton Elohan Byers

ying

lifting

dying

drifting

frosted

lochs

fertile

oozing

living rocks

speak in re

cold

rolling

soaring

tumbling

roaring

loins of lions

ripping

feasting

belly and breast

Earth is breathing


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Soul Dancers

Twin ights

darting, kissing through

nearly night

skies of silence

only curls

of dark and light

unseen by most

but felt

between wing

and wing

murmured throbbings

twisting, ashing

beautiful things

together dancing

out of sight

messengers of harmony

we'll make it

we'll be alright

if we but follow

the curls

of dark and light

and dance on wings

to the deep unseen

only known

by taking ight

~Anton Elohan Byers


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Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it.

Action has magic, grace and power.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Earth is Breathing