Shark Diving

The greater rush

from one foot in

the Atlantic Ocean

and the other

in the Indian Ocean

relative to cage diving

with great white sharks,

seems odd to me.

And there were great white sharks:

seven in all, 2 large ones,

chum drawn and bait bated to

charge the cage

hosting a line up of black suited

precious human bodies.

Clearly the cage is more

for our psychological protection,

than physical protection.

Sharks kill 5 to 7 humans a year.

We human kill 100,000 sharks each year.

Who’s the greater danger?

Sharks are so like the rhino,

a throwback to prehistoric bodies.

I’m surprised with the total

lack of fear suiting up

or entering the cage.

Once in, a huge rush,

partly cold water,

partly that I’m immersed

in the Atlantic Ocean,

near the very bottom of the planet.

I’m in the ocean that bonds

Greenland and Canada,

England and Maine,

and the steady heart beat

of Africa with South America.

The ocean feels charged

with past ships successfully

completing marketing missions,

and those claimed by Davie Jones locker

by this rugged coast.

The great whites are here,

drawn to “shark alley”

by the penguins on Dire Island

to the right, and seals on the left.

Both shorelines we can see from the boat.

Sharks are drawn to the boat

by the food game of

now you see it, now you don’t.

The water is chummed with

fish blood and bits, advertising the game.

If you choose to show up to play,

a hooked fish head is thrown your direction,

then withdrawn quickly over the human cage.

The men throwing know the “fetch” game well.

No feeding the sharks, tempting only,

so it must be jerked quickly out of jaws reach.

Underwater I have the house’s

best seat….last in the cage.

At the end of the boat chumming draws

schools of parrot fish who feed in a frenzy.

With visibility at 7 feet only

the cry “down in front”

means all of us caged ones

drop below the waters surface.

Nothing in front, fish feeding off to my right.

I come up for air.

Another “down in front”,

I submerge forgetting to take a breath.

And there it is.

A great white shark

drifting by, gills slits clear, closed,

only a brief mouth line

under the elongated snout.

“Down in front”

here comes another,

one lazy tail twitch sending it

shooting toward the boat,

the cage, mouth open.

I’m surprised by my bodies

lack of visceral fear, only appreciation

for the magnificent beauty,

the size and incredible grace.

And I’m getting cold.

Isn’t life incredible?

Lizette.Estelle Stiehr

September 14, 2010

I Have No Authority Figure

My Virgo-ness so loves

order, outlines and org charts.

But we no longer recognize

any external authority figure.

There is no God out there,

only a huge Creator in here,

with whom

I AM ONE.

Lizette Estelle Stiehr

July 31, 2010

Thank you Ken Wilber

Second Wind

I find myself
on my second wind.

After the years
of wanting
“work release”
from this body,
this 3D density.

I find myself
re-invigorated,
re-energized.

And super excited
about what’s to come.

Lizette Estelle Stiehr
July 5, 2010
Dedicated to Sandy Ryan
Of the glorious huge heart

THE PATH

I arrive at Coeur D’Alene in August

preparing to walk the familiar pine-needled path

through ancient trees, toward the hills.

But the path is totally different.

Spruce beetle kill has downed the huge trees

blocking the path, routing one far uphill.

And light floods into

what was once deep forest.

So odd… filled with light, yet not passable.

How like my inner life.

The old path of service to others

regardless of the cost to me,

has become impassable.

Now the path is rerouted anew,

unknown and unclear.

I walk a new path that releases me

from the old patterns of a “good” woman

who gives more than she has,

who stays until death

who never gets angry.

I walk the new path.

I serve the light as defined from within.

I serve the light of peace and contentment,

of joy and harmony and growth.

I’ve graduated to a new path

that only opens right in front of me.

I’ve graduated into a new path

of loving me enough

to fill my own well

from within.

Lizette Stiehr

August 29, 2009

At the campground above Hope, Alaska

Loving Me, Not Being Lovable

I drive over this

rough road,

cut anew.

The car is

rocking and rolling.

I feel such gratitude

for this new path.

As you choose

not me,

ironically

I find the

true place

off my value.

I find and name,

I discover and allow,

a bigger and deeper

love of and for

myself.

The work

of being

atonement

(at-one-ment)

is to love self

not be lovable.

Lizette Estelle Stiehr

July 5, 2010

E- Motion

Emotion

is energy

in motion.

E-motion.

I find/feel

the energy,

the frequency

of my insecurity.

I forgive

that part of me,

that so wishes

I’d do it better,

hold more strongly.

When my Virgo

mutable self

is so dedicated

to dissolving and

transforming.

True transformation

comes through forgiveness.

I allow forgiveness.

I forgive me.

Lizette Estelle Stiehr

Inspired by Ruth Evelyn

Sedona Journal, June 2010 Page 89

ROMAN

Your 9 year old boy body

stumbles to my meditation chair

sleep heavy.

You body curls,

an unfurled fern,

to fit into the lap

of my empty chalice.

My heart vibrates

breathlessly

as it pumps love out

over your every cell.

This is sweetness

Beyond imagining.

GranmaZette

July 3, 2010

Another Saturday morning following a sweet sleep over