Heartwork with Dale Biron–Poems For Heart and Soul

Ode To A Hungry Raccoon

03 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you want to simultaneous enjoy your life, have better relationships, and get more things done, then you'll need to spend more time in your per...

What Is Your Deeper Why?

26 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We all want to fulfill the "why" of our lives. Therefore, how we "pickle" ourselves matters. Or said another way, the "contex...

In Defense of Unsuccessful Art

19 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The simple, basic, foundational fact we must understand to be successful in any creative (especially artistic) endeavor...

Our Beautiful, Battered, Broken World

12 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When we create stories about human nature, based upon observing traumatized humans, we get a picture that is both predictable and wrong. –Musings of...

The More Than Human World

05 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A Post-Humanist world would be one that fully embraced a "more than human world..." This week's episode continues to explore this theme...

A New PostHumanist Manifesto

29 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"...We must un-humanize our view of the world just a little,make being of service, as needed and as sacred as sunlight.Invite both head and heart...

Arranging For Our Own Disappearance

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What if we are up to our collective axels in mud? What if our political and ecological ideas, beliefs, and actions are getting us nowhere? What if we&...

Solving Your 37th Problem

15 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In these times of political, social, and ecological challenge and disruption, to what should we pay attention? Well certainly the ability to come back...

What If We Have Hope All Wrong?

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Let's reimagine both hope and despair. Truth is, hope and despair make uneasy friends. Our categorical, binary culture, insists on our choosing o...

Burn This Poem – A Primer on Forgiveness

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Forgiveness? It can become your super power. Start with others. Slowly. Pace yourself. It’s no cakewalk, but forgiving others can often be a tad eas...

The Meta Crisis... It's Too Late For Anything But Art

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Real hope, meaning decent odds for passing through the coming political, social, and ecological bottlenecks we face throughout the world, will require...

3 Simple Reasons To Love A Poem

16 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Of course, there's no algorithm or "set of rules" for writing (or for that matter, discovering) beautiful, stunning, memorable poems. B...

To The Other 99.9% of Earthlings

09 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

WANTED: HUMANS TO CREATE AND SPREAD NEW, HELPFUL STORIES... When it comes to the META-CRISIS we face, we not only have an old story, it's a bad s...

Extreme Wealth Inequality is Dangerous... Just Ask AI

02 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or you can have democracy. But you cannot have both." –U.S. Supreme Court Justice...

Small Stories of Utter Happiness

26 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Perhaps there's never been a time on this earth, when tiny moments of restful joy, and small islands of utter happiness were more needed. The rec...

When A Poem Removes The Top of Our Head

19 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Listen, you can’t just read a poem. Not a good one. Not a poem thatmoves you. Not one that stops you in your tracks, has you look closely,walk insid...

The New Year Begs Our Pardon

12 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What if a New Year could talk? What would it say? Maybe it feels like we lean on "it" a little too hard, for the things we want, but constan...

Why Do We Bother With Poetry?

05 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"Because poetry, if it takes fire, cracks people’s masks, and assaults arrogance, and sucks you beneath the surface of words towards why we use...

Leveling Up Your Gratefulness Practice

29 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Stay A Cheap Date… To up your gratefulness game, stay amazed by a cool glass of water, a summer tomato, a hug, a curious question asked by a loving ...

Why We Post On Social Media

22 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Of course, social media includes a daily diet of vitriol and shrillness. And there are perverse structural algorithms that reinforce the fomenting of ...

Costing Not Less Than Everything

15 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Who could blame us for wanting to place the tray table of our fears, concerns, and at times despair, in its full upright and locked position? That is ...

Cash Crop Poetry

08 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A cash crop poem is one that helps and inspires us in so many ways. We go back to them time and time again. But why and how do they work?

The Language of Your Broken, Joyful Heart

01 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Your heart seeks its own reflected images. After reading and speaking at least a million lines of poetry, here are some of my favorite ones, and the p...

A Radical Experiment in Words...

24 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Could recognizing more fully our relationships and context change everything, particularly when it comes to our ecological meta-crisis? And might an a...

What if The Pagans Are Right?

17 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How deeply ironic that the perspectives, beliefs and stories we now most need to help us heal the earth and avert an even greater catastrophe, were on...

Trickster Poet Speaks Out (Disruptively)

10 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Maybe a better strategic plan is not what we need right now. Maybe we need to get lost on purpose, to break away from the ironclad certainty of "...

Reclaiming Our Heart In Troubled Times

03 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our modern culture can no longer resolve the predicaments it's creating. The difficulties and tensions are playing out socially, economically, po...

Radical Acceptance

27 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are many things we want to change, make different, make better. From personal changes, to massive political and ecological transformations. The ...

Being A Little More Human

20 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

So here is the thing about being human. We are story-based animals. We become ourselves through stories. It’s the narrative pickle juice in which we...

Faith... (Not The Supernatural Kind)

13 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Let's talk about about a different kind of faith. The faith needed for the challenges and predicaments ahead, both personal and collective. A fai...

Being Irreverent, Humble, & Unpretentious

06 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

An amazing poet, who through her art, provides a master class on the traits we need to skillfully face the predicaments and challenges of our wild and...

Light Switch – Guided Poetry Meditation For All

29 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

OK, just get comfortable wherever you’re seated. It will help if your back is straight. If you can and it’s comfortable, close your eyes and take ...

You Will Never Be Alone...

22 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You will never be alone, you hear so deep / a sound when autumn comes... (One of the most uplifting poems ever.)

The Unfathomable Simplicity of Poetry

15 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How can a poem be both simple and unfathomable at the same time? Truth is, really good poems lift off the page, taking us to those new frontier places...

Being A Real Person In The Anthropocene

08 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Our current economy is at war with the earth. Here's a story and vision, disguised as a poem to help us stay real, centered, and effective in the...

Please Don't Sabotage Your Relationships

01 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

ENJOY THIS QUICK POETIC TAKE... Here's a poem describing the greatest challenge most of us will ever face in our closest relationships. Using sim...

Honoring Our Beloved Critter Companions

25 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If you have ever shared your home and life with a critter you loved, this episode is for you. What words might we choose to honor the animal beings th...

Art As A Sacred Subversion

18 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What if an established norm in society, a hidebound institution, a way of thinking, or a whole economic system is simply wrong? (For example, the vast...

A Hack For Our Happiness

11 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In a world where we are besieged by exaggeration, hype, and nearly nonstop puffery, might there be a legitimate, simple and realistic way to tap into ...

The Courage We Need In Difficult (Eco) Conversations

04 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Forget the flashy courage of heroes. The poet calls courage an act of knowing, speaking, and following the deeper directions of the heart. It is the w...

How To Find "Your" Perfect Poem?

28 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When does a poem become "your" perfect poem?  Most importantly, the poem must be relatable. It must not be closed-off and insultingly clea...

The Abnormal Is Not Courage

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Courage is needed to skillfully face our ecological meta-crisis. But the question is, what kind of courage? The wrong kind will not work, and may actu...

Break Glass In Case of Emergence

14 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

We know what to do in traditional emergencies. But what of the confusion, fear, and often excruciating pain that defines the necessary emergence into ...

Notice How Our Activism Is Not Working

07 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we consider a world where activism has ceased to work, or work in the ways we wish and imagine. So what then? Are we ready? Of course ...

When Our Words Turn On Us?

30 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The words we use can be our best friend (or) worst enemy. What happens when the enemy in our language shows up, but we urgently need an ally and frien...

Thinking Small In Big Ways

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Could it be that doing and feeling better in the world, requires us to think smaller not bigger? Might this is the way forward, tip-toeing toward smal...

To Act In Wiser Ways

16 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As a poet-story teller, I'm keenly interested in the role of each of us that hears and tells stories (and poems) in a time of ecological crisis? ...

Don't Save The World, Love It...

09 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

If we love the world fully, we can't help but do the right things. Conversely, without a deep love and reverence for the world, nothing we do wil...

From Heartbreak To Healing

02 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Can the same poem trade in both heartbreak and healing? Can the story of the poem help us witness a difficult and sometimes terrifying reality while a...

The Tangle That Is Our Lives

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How do you handle not knowing? Is it disorienting? Do you rush to a resolution? A rush to feel, anything other than uncertainty? What if we could allo...

Don't Hold Your Happiness Hostage

19 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Mostly, we don't even realize it. That we're perpetually waiting for some other "thing" to happen or "condition" to be t...

Don't You Just Love Rilke

12 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Why do so many of us love the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke? It's simple. He helps us see, understand, and experience the world through fresh, cre...

The Greatest Ecological Question of Our Time

06 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Can a poem help us answer one of the greatest ecological questions of our time? If we can't own our love (and need) for fossil fuels, how are we ...

The Mind is Larger Than The Mind

28 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What if we need more than our mind to think more fully and skillfully? What if we need the whole world, especially the natural world to think more cle...

There Is An Alternative

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One of the most wrong-headed, destructive, and patently false ideas regarding our current state of economics, politics, and ecology is something calle...

Advice For The Ignored...

15 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Are your words making a difference in the world? Are others listening? What would it take to be heard more fully? If what you're saying is not ha...

Where Is Your Spirit Tonight?

07 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The hour is late, do you know where your spirit is tonight? These are spirit and soul-sapping times. Listen to this beautiful and practical narrative ...

The Support You Need Now

01 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Each of us needs to feel an unwavering support in this world, especially as we approach the outer edges and frontiers of our lives. Helping us navigat...

What To Hear When Afraid

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What words do you need to say or hear when you are afraid? Here's just a taste of some delicious, soothing words you just might need in your poet...

The Wisdom of Not Knowing

17 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Can we turn "not knowing" into a friend? When it comes to the great ecological and related political challenges we face, can we turn “not ...

Letting Go Without Giving Up

11 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

 "How shall the heart be reconciled to its feast of losses?" This fierce question by Poet Stanley Kunitz is the genesis for this episode. T...

SPEAK A POEM WELL… CHANGE THE WORLD

04 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How can you "speak" a poem so the mind relaxes and the heart listens more deeply? Here are 6 simple "poem whisperer" principles yo...

What Do You Need Right Now?

25 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You may need "small islands of coherence" in your life, even more than you know. In this episode we will review an amazing poem by Pablo Ner...

Can We Live Without Beauty?

19 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is beautiful is not only exciting, engaging, and pleasurable... It is wildly practical, as well. It simply works better than anything else! Pleas...

Are You On Your Own Side?

10 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It's a serious question. Despite our intentions, we often sabotage our own best interests, including (and especially) doing things that conspire ...

Mary Oliver Tribute

03 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Of all the poets I’ve included in my talks, workshops, and in 1-1 coaching over the years, Mary Oliver has been the best known and most loved. I’v...

Soul Talk... A Practical Guide

28 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

3 Soul Talk Questions...What's the price of feeling disconnected from our soul? Has that price become too high to pay? What language is needed ...

Can Poetry Make Us Less Crazy?

20 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I recently published an article with a online publication on the Medium platform called "Better Humans." It’s turning out to be one of the...

How To Judge A Poem... Finding Language You Love

13 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What makes a good, or even great poem? How do you separate the  wheat from the chaff, providing yourself with the language you actually love and need...

Hope on Fire... Just What's Needed

06 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when hope must float in a sea of uncertainty, conflict, and loss? Can we create a more durable and resilient hope? A new fire-tested hope...

Poems For A Sacred Earth

31 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What in your life would you work for, sacrifice for, serve and protect? The answer, of course is what you love and cherish. What if we were to widen o...

How To Safely Ignore Poetry

23 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How much can we safely ignore poetry? That’s a real question and we’re going to fearlessly try to answer it in this episode. What’s at stake? I ...

Meaning Making, Joy, and You

16 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed and even besieged by the complexity of the world? Do you struggle to make sense and meaning out of our intense envir...

Your Secret Loves And Connections

09 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On one level, the people, critters, and things we love are familiar to us. At another level, it's far too easy to stop "seeing" and app...

Reimagining The Magic Of Trees…

02 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Be a tree. Listen to the magic of their beckoning poems and stories. Let them hear you out as they call out in you what is wise, rooted and clear.

Everyone Is Heartbroken... Including you

25 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We are all heartbroken, so ignoring or denying it will not make it go away. However, to embrace our sorrow, and to embrace and help others with their ...

How To Make A Poem (Deeply) Your Own

18 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When you read or hear a "just right" poem, you will know it. The poem will delight and stun you. It will do something vital for you. Strange...

The Complexity Trap, Poetry and You

11 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The meta-crisis is a multitude of overlapping, interconnected global crises of ecology, perception, culture, politics, education and spirituality.The ...

You’re Not Alone… The Healing Power of Poetry

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we take on a very human feeling. A feeling we all have at times, yet a feeling no one wants. When we are in the grip of "alonenes...

The Specious Present... Beyond Ecological Doom (or) Unearned Hope

29 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Systems theory will never be the same after we hitch up some world-class William Stafford poetry to it. "Traveling Through The Dark"  Staff...

How To Laugh, Cry, and Heal (With Poetry)

12 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes the most serious subjects require the lightest, most humorous touch. These featured poets are masters at using with and humor to help us alo...

In Celebration of Silence

28 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Silence is a powerful tool. It's essential for any meditation practice. Yet it can also be challenging, an acquired taste as they say. What would...

My Religion Is Surprise

14 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Do you ever lament the fact that the half-life of your clarity and best insights are often quite short? Here is a featured poem that suggests that thi...

When I Am Asked (A Poem of Loss & Healing)

01 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

"Hello just right poem...  I have found you." That's the new subtitle for this practical poetry podcast. I'm headed back to the f...

Love Vs. Ecological Devastation

09 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Love may be the only workable response to the ecological devastation we face. Even fierce resistance goes better with love. To confront the sheer magn...

Healing Our Eco-Grief With Poetry

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Eco-grief is real and growing. We ignore it at our peril, especially for those who wish to act in healing support of the natural world. Poetry is a po...

Tragedy of The Commons… Debunking A Dangerous Idea Poetically

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, featuring the amazing poet William Carlos Williams, we will explore how stories that seem so right can be so wrong and damaging. Spec...

Rumi, Poetry, and Our Ecological Predicament

25 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, featuring the amazing poet Rumi, we will explore the ecological predicament we're in and how poetry can play a vital helping rol...

Closing The Ecological Wisdom Gap... Featuring Poet Wendell Berry

16 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Can we be smart but not wise? Our old wisdom is failing us in dramatic ways. We have ecological challenges everywhere we look, from climate, to soil e...

Poetry Mondays... “Internalities” (Brief poem for eco-warriors)

09 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

“Internalities” Imagine all those things we might begin to count, if onlyall the humans were counted. Internalizing the costs ofbellies unfed, mi...

On Mother Earth's Day (A Special Poem For Earth Day 2022)

22 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today, like every other day, mother earth kept doing her wondrous magical spinning thing. As the sun thrummed a vibrational magic, the light and dar...

Poetry Mondays... The "I Gotta Be Right Disease" Poem

18 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

I should mention that of course, I'm talking about myself here. When we are afflicted by this malady, we are often the last to know. Just ask you...

SATURDAY SONGS... Wolves In The Streets (Original Song)

12 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Many environmental activists I've spoken with agree on one thing. We won't make it through this narrow and ever more harrowing tight spot we...

Robert Bly and His Dangerous Dragon Smoke

11 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Bly is the perfect poet for those interested in and working toward healing the planet. (Not to mention healing ourselves.) Bly brings just the ...

Poetry Mondays... Let's Go Rogue With A Found Poem...

04 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What if a kindness stalks you unmercifully? How about a thank-you note that comes at you so hard, then won't let you be? Then what if some specia...

Poetry Mondays... Finding Our Way Out Of Difficult Times

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Here's a poem for those days and times when you're feeling so discouraged you need a reminder that these times will pass. Not to mention rem...

Poetry Mondays... The Kind Of Poem That Knows A Great Deal More Than It Will Say

14 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A poem by Dale Biron for Poetry Mondays...

Dark, Dark, Light (Meditations on The War in Ukraine)

09 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Before we’re done with this episode, we’ll cover some amazing opportunities, even in the face of all our challenges. That’s the “light” part...

Poetry Mondays... At The Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border

08 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A poem of peace dedicated to the Ukrainian people. 

Poetry Mondays... To Live A Life That Helps

28 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After reading some memorial poetry and prose in honor of Barry Lopez, who passed in 2020 this poem came to me. His wife said he often made this statem...