11.10.2025. Praise the Poets
Hello dear Friends,
“In the stillness of the quiet, if we listen, we can hear the whisper of the heart giving strength to
weakness,courage to fear, hope to despair.”
–Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman
🍃
When desolate strikes like a winter storm– moves in for a few days, months, sometimes years—it is poems and sacred text, words made from black ink, from clogged tears, and the first light of dawn, that arrive as small miracles appearing on blank paper, offering me care. Praise the poets, the prophets, the bards, giving legs, bodies, and hearts to us when we are in the landscape of no words, rich emotions, lost in the dark.
This is when we call upon the true heart of metta (loving-kindness) with its two roots: gentle and a friend. The first root, gentle, is like a spring rain, soft and light, touching everything—the earth, our gardens, our bodies, our kitchen windowsills—with a tap, tap tenderness, embracing everything. Its second root, a friend, is that of a true friend—a true ride-or-die, "I have your back, I am here for you," one who will speak truth and not idiot compassion; someone who is a constant in both times of joy and sorrow. Someone who helps, guides, and protects you when you’re in need of support. Someone who celebrates your heart's successes, rejoices in your happiness. A best friend who sees your tender heart, knows your goodness-strength (even when you believe you are a fragile flower) and knows your bones are made from the temple of the Holy.
This is how we meet our despair and loss with gentleness and friendship — the heart of metta. From this foundational root of being our own best friend. We relearn, or perhaps for the first time, how to touch and see ourselves in our own true loveliness. We begin to be kind to ourselves (with great tenderness of heart, from my own personal efforts, I’m saying, “I know this sounds simple ‘yes’, easy to do, no”).
"You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection." — The Buddha
Poems, sacred texts, trees, and moss know this wonder, this surprise magic: that in the loss of self and the desolate of night, a crack of light is always trying to break in—to write a new ending to our story and free us from our limiting beliefs. It calls to us to remember something much, much wider. This voiceless voice I would name is the Holy, the Universe, is God. May we have the courage to listen into the quiet with the ears attached to our hearts, and hear the poem inscribed on our heart.
"The longest journey you will make in your life is from your head to your heart,"
– Old Lakota Saying
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Come Join Me Today *
Drop-in Meditation Monday
All are welcome; no prior experience is needed—just bring an open heart.
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM: 15-minute Guided Meditation on Self-Compassion & 25-minute Metta Meditation Practice
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM: Conversations on the Practice of Meditation
* New Temporary Location: 778 West Frontage Road, Suite 114, Northfield, IL
Donations are gratefully accepted.
Closing with gratitude,
Love, Wini
PS. More below, made with ♥️
💌 Share this letter: If this resonated, please forward it to someone who needs a dollop of tenderness and care.
☕ Support My Work: Your support helps cover the time and focus needed to research and write The Metta Letter every week: Buy Me a Coffee
🌸 Two Poems
The Lesson of the Falling Leaves | Lucille Clifton
the leaves believe
such letting go is love
such love is faith
such faith is grace
such grace is god
i agree with the leaves.
In the Company of Women | January Gill O’Neil *
Make me laugh over coffee,
make it a double, make it frothy
so it seethes in our delight.
Make my cup overflow
with your small happiness.
I want to hoot and snort and cackle and chuckle.
Let your laughter fill me like a bell.
Let me listen to your ringing and singing
as Billie Holiday croons above our heads.
Sorry, the blues are nowhere to be found.
Not tonight. Not here. No makeup. No tears.
Only contours. Only curves.
Each sip takes back a pound,
each dry-roasted swirl takes our soul.
Can I have a refill, just one more?
Let the bitterness sink to the bottom of our lives.
Let us take this joy to go.
*Oops! Author Correction: Last week, I incorrectly attributed the poem to Ada Limón. The author is January Gill O’Neil. I apologize for the error.
PS. My gratitude to Megan for catching this, who has a poetry box outside her house. Yes! What a
gorgeous offering to the world, to her neighbors and the mailperson walking by– poems in a box! A
poet activist!
🌸 Three Quotes | David Stendl Rast. Arundhati Roy. Nikita Gill.
“The mystic is not a special kind of human being, but each human being is a special kind of mystic.” — David Stendl Rast, Benedictine Mystic
“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. Instead, cultivate the courage to seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never to forget.” — Arundhati Roy
“Some days I am more wolf than woman and I’m still learning how to stop apologizing for my wild.” — Nikita Gill
🌸 YOUR HELP IS NEEDED! | SNAP Benefits On Hold
Last month, I shared about the AMAZING MudGirls Studio, a non-profit ceramic studio founded and run by my sister-in-law's dear friend Dorrie Papademetriou.
Mudgirls' workers need our help! With their SNAP benefits on hold, these women are significantly impacted – if you could donate, I know it would be a huge offer of kindness and care. If you’re able, please use this link to donate
And, if you’re in the market for some excellent holiday gifts, this is the place for that too– shop now, they sell out fast.
For those who don’t know, MudGirls Studios in Atlantic City, NJ transforms the lives of women facing adversity by offering them training, employment, and a pathway out of poverty. Every item sold represents a step toward self-sufficiency. For Mudgirls, clay is more than just art — it is a tool for personal and economic empowerment, helping women reshape their futures.
🌸🎶 Two Closing Songs | Sent to Me By Two Dear Friends
Spencer LaJoye their viral 2021 anthem “Plowshare Prayer” (5:41 min)
thank you Leslye for sending on
Ocie Elliott Like a River (3:35 min) a song you play on and on, a song for your heart.
thank you Gina for sending on
🎵 Lyrics
Was a long Monday, Tuesday gone
Wrote it down in a song
Paradise lost but paradise found
It all comes back around
And you’ll go on, on, on
Just the like the river
You’ll go on
Liberated eyes and a buddha smile
🌸🙏 Dedicate Merit | In all Mystical traditions, there is a closing prayer – prayers of blessing, gratitude and protection.
May you remember the deep wisdom within you.
May you refuse to apologize for your wildness.
May all beings be safe and protected.
Have a blessed day,
Love, Wini 💖
🌸 ✨ Pass It On ✨
Help spread tender kindness and care out into the world.
Share the Metta Letters with a friend.
Oh, It Is A Hard Ask– Small donations help me to continue this loving offering, Metta Newsletter bloom (I am a one-woman show) 🌸 click here Venmo 🌸 Buy Me A Cup Of Coffee
✨ may we bloom more Light.
💞 may we grow more Goodness for the healing of all.
🌎 may each of us stitch more heart-tenderness into the fabric of our planet.
….Until next week. 💖 ✨
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.
- Mary Oliver
Website: https://www.wininimrod.com/
