C.M. Rivers

"The point of being an artist is that you may live." ~ Sherwood Anderson

Journal

  • Say Yes

    Say yes to storms, stillness, success, failure, silence, noise. Yes to high winds, bitter cold, sweltering heat, crushing loneliness, joyful connection, isolation, liberation. Yes to the broken and the unbreakable.  Yes to the shaken and the unshakeable. Say yes to danger, safety, pain, pleasure, exhaustion, energy.  Yes to the suffering you’ve known and the gifts you’ve been Read more

  • Working With Coyote

    In working with Coyote – the trickster who tricks even himself – there can be no rigid thinking, no frame around the picture.  Perceptions are dissolved, expectations are deconstructed.  One must take oneself less seriously, welcome laughter, crack open the shell of one’s own ego. An open heart is required, and it is like the Read more

  • Flicker

    Who holds this light?  Nobody knows, only that it stronger grows. Dim or bright, the smallest flame can light the darkness just the same.      Read more

  • “Many Miles” by Mary Oliver

    The feet of the heron, under those bamboo stems, hold the blue body, the great beak above the shallows of the pond. Who could guess their patience? Sometimes the toes shake, like worms. What fish could resist? Or think of the cricket, his green hooks, climbing the blade of grass- or think of camel feet Read more

  • The Tourist

    Why do I wake while morning is still night? I grope along endless caverns, it seems, descending many fathoms deep into memories of the past, and dreams of the future, my hand outstretched, a flickering candle in the curl of my fingers. Journeys that – in the present light of day – I struggle to Read more

  • Just Know

    Just know that you are the master of the singing bowl, the viscous ripples in the air, the temple in the clouds and mist.  Know you are the heart that leads the way, the swan who dives, the moon in May. Just know you are the artist, the canvas, the muse.  Know you are the Read more