Heartwork with Dale Biron–Poems For Heart and Soul

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 special show of gratitude goes rogue and swallows your heart?

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 remembering how important our daily practices are for maintaining a little sanity and centeredness. The poem is called "Why We Do Our Daily Practices" and is included as the title poem in a collection I published in 2014.  

A poem by Dale Biron for Poetry Mondays...

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! (But first, some questions to nibble on.) How are you making sense of this war? What are you reading? Who are you talking with and to whom are you listening? What are you believing? Have you formed an opinion about what ought to be done to resolve the war? W...

A poem of peace dedicated to the Ukrainian people. 

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 statement: "I want to live a life that helped."

When it comes to the fate of human beings in the natural world, now is a time for a new kind of hope, not a trivial hope. Only hope burned clean in the hot fire of faith is workable now. The faith our moment-by-moment breathing proves real. The faith in redwood, hawk, river, soil, ocean, cloud. The faith our hands and feet provide, and those of our ancestors. Yes, this is what's needed.

Can a poem describe you better than you can? Yes, it's true, and maybe that's one of the reasons we love them so much. Let's explore this question further. My advice? Just let your poem-loving hedonism rule... 

Use this poem when you're feeling the most alone. For times when few are paying attention. For the times when your work is misunderstood and seems least likely to make a difference. Be reminded, the whole world is ready and waiting for your next courageous move. 

This is the first in a series of short poems offered up on Mondays for your listening pleasure. These will be in addition to the regular twice-monthly podcasts. Think of it as a kind of "micro-dosing" of poetry. Enjoy. 

The earth is blaring an ear-piercing, mind-numbing, heart-breaking alarm telling us we’re in deep trouble. We're in trouble with unprecedented levels of species extinction, topsoil loss, habitat destruction, melting solar caps, chemical contamination, fishery collapse, climate-caused fires, droughts, and sea level rise plus, of course all the human challenges that are joined at the hip with t...

Friends don't let friends read boring poetry. So how can you find your personalized collection of exciting, inspiring, life-changing poems? Here are my three simple, down-to-earth guidelines after helping thousands of people discover the poetry they loved and needed in their lives.

So many of the stories we grew up with and our culture keeps telling us no longer make sense. And in terms of their lived outcomes, they are increasingly turning out to be disastrous. Our minds and hearts reject these narratives, these patterns, these meanings. The very purpose of art (and especially poetry) is to create new stories, new patterns, new meanings that help make the world more regener...

Wild women poets are courageous, connected, and creative, and they ask and receive much from their muses. You won't want to miss the final podcast episode in a trilogy honoring more amazing, powerful, and attitude-altering women poets. 

Available now! A second full dose of wild women poets served up fresh, defiant, and highly captivating for both head and heart. Let me tease with some provocative words from this episode from wild women poet, Audre Lorde: “When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.” 

Wild women poets are not afraid to delve into their inner complexities, vulnerabilities, and paradoxes. And by doing so, they help us with our vulnerabilities, insights, and ultimately internal forgiveness. They model self-compassion so that we might tip-toe into those often foreign lands ourselves. Wild women poets speak candidly about the world, its joys, and unfathomable mysteries, along with i...

Why did the great philosopher-poet Wendell Berry once exclaim, "The mind that is not baffled is not employed." Naturally, we avoid confusion. However, harnessed and used skillfully, it can help us resolve our epoch's most significant political, environmental, and climate challenges. Cue the podcast, fire up the hand-picked poems, prepare the ground for new thinking and feeling.

Toxic environmental doom? Toxic environmental hope? It's easy to get stuck in one of these places. Or to oscillate between them. Both are absolutes, and both are unhelpful traps. Both claim to know what's unknowable by declaring there is no way to win or, conversely, no way to lose. Poetry offers up surprising, practical, paradoxical help in these matters.

What if we had special, practical, beautiful hand-made tools made from language to help us be more courageous in our everyday lives? That is precisely what we’re going for in this new episode of Dale Biron's Poetry Podcast... A Fresh Glimpse of Knowing. 

In this episode, we'll use poetry to help us unpack a very thorny issue and question. Will our democracy survive the political and social polarization we're living through and have lived through over the last years? That question at first blush seems beyond the pale , a total exaggeration. But is it hyperbole? The truth is, now does seem different. These times feel more dire and troubled...

In this episode, Dale focuses on poems to help those of us who are a little too hard on ourselves. So if you tend to not be on your own side in too many instances, you may want to pay particular attention to this episode. Self-compassion may not always be the norm, but with the right poetry, it can become much more prevalent and widespread…

In this episode, Dale uses poetry to sneak up on and provide fresh insight into the most significant challenge facing humankind. You'll hear some great poetry, timely aphorisms, commentary, and more...