Sharon Lia Robinson
  • About
  • Art
  • Poetry
  • Films
    • Edge of the Sea Gallery (1998-2003)
    • My Journey Toward Wholeness
    • whoever i am, i’m a fat womon (Film)
  • Meher Baba In My Life
  • Children’s Literature
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Author Archive for Sharon Lia Robinson

Contribute

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Saturday, May 28th, 2022

Please consider a financial gift to affirm my life and creative projects as an artist, poet and independent scholar. Your participation is received with great appreciation.Technical skills and prayer support are also most welcome. In addition, I invite your ideas for publication, my legacy and archival work.
Your inquiries are welcome. Thank you very much.
Financial contributions are not tax deductible.
You may send a contribution to me by check or via Zelle.
Checks may be sent to:
Sharon L. Robinson
P.O. Box 895
Port Townsend,
Washington 98368

Clay sculpture by Sharon Lia Robinson

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine

My Creative Legacy

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (2)
Saturday, May 28th, 2022
(Assemblage Who Made This Sky by Sharon Lia Robinson)

There may be a clue in facing a challenge, a clue that leads one on their path in life to find their purpose.  The challenges that I experienced in my early years have played a significant role in my life search, identity and individuation.

My life has led me to a path of spiritual faith and self-acceptance.   I have faith that my vision for an innovative center, foundation, or institute for my life and my legacy will inspire others to work with me in support of my projects, and will educate many in various ways and realms. 

In my early twenties, as a student of sociology and psychology, I became aware of the work of Thomas Szasz, R. D. Laing, Rollo May, Carl Jung and Frantz Fanon. Through their writings, I was thus influenced to consider and to appreciate my creative gifts and uniqueness. There were communities at the time, led by R. D. Laing, Rollo May, and the followers of Carl Jung. 

These innovative centers upheld alternative insights, understanding and compassion for a gentle unfoldment of the creative process, within the context of the meaning of a psychic break.  Knowing that these places were being developed and researching their practices was an essential way for me to begin to know and to honor myself. These centers have given me courage throughout my life as I have developed as a poet, a visual  artist, an independent scholar and in my research of holistic health practices. 

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine

Reflections for My Stories

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Thursday, May 26th, 2022

Themes and Commentary

I have written a collection of stories with themes that relate to the outsider and the search for social acceptance. Being in some ways outside the margins, my stories and poetry may focus on people outside mainstream American culture.

These stories relate to emergence and transformation of self and society.  They present a spiritual dimension, addressing life path issues, learning from experience, karma and a historical reflection of one woman’s life and creative work.

In the 1970’s, I was a young, full-figured woman, a poet finding my way. I was earnestly seeking connection, meaning and authenticity for my life and a sense of belonging. I did not find social acceptance  or social approval in the realm of the mainstream milieu.

My friends and companions were often other outsiders.  I was searching within and meeting other outsiders; to find my sense of self.  This search was my way to creatively explore and to find a sense of wholeness.

In 1974, I became active in the fat women’s liberation movement for size acceptance. I soon began writing short stories and poems to bring to light the experience of living as a full-figured woman in North America. During that time, I also began to explore the psychology of Dr. Carl Jung.

In 1986, my life began to change slowly, yet dramatically, when I became a spiritual devotee of Meher Baba. Since then, my work has focused more completely on the inner journey toward wholeness, from a more conscious spiritual perspective.

Now, I am organizing and sharing my reflections, commentary and my collection of stories, poetry and experimental plays.

My intention is to reclaim what is of value and wisdom, so that I and others may continue to learn from that earlier time frame in my life.  (These notes were originally published on February 10, 2011 and later edited).

Read more about these writings:  Excerpts from a Play and Three Short Stories

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine

Laughing Buddha

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Tuesday, October 19th, 2021

laughing Buddha
hands holding treasure
I bow in homage
on the seashore
winds of change

reaching beyond
some cosmic trance
beyond illusion
to a gift of faith and chance

laughing Oneness
lightens my limerence
smiling Buddha
coins of mystery

Buddha smiles
hands holding treasure
reaching beyond
who knows where

my heart askew
God knows me there
laughter reaching new moon

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine, Selected Poetry

Wandering Stone Light (In His Love)

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Sunday, March 28th, 2021

thank you stones
in the healing
oneness of my darling
in the midnight
kiss of forever

thank you stones
for each time
I was alone
you gladly gave
to me your heart

each time I wandered
the empty moonlit gate
dawn of compassion
arrived to awaken

the breath of slumber
an unknown kindness
the fragrant messenger
seemed to receive me

kindness of stones
to a lonesome, moonlit bird
offering the gift of the world

       

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life, Selected Poetry

My Archival Journey

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Monday, December 7th, 2020

A collection of my creative work is in my archive in the Schlesinger Library on Women’s History, Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

I am very grateful for this archive, and that my writings have a home.

In this way, my work is remembered and people have access to it both now and after my passing.

My collection of poetry, stories, and visual art  includes photographic collaborations with photographer Steven R. Johnson (see Rubenesque Landscape on this website). This collaboration, along with my other projects, documents my life as an unconventional heroine.

My Creative Writings Include:

  • a collection of  short stories and poems for children
  • free verse poetry
  • a collection of short stories featuring the theme of the outsider. These stories of unique and unusual people are written by me at the intersection of place and imagination.)
  • experimental theatre, stories, essays and poetry (including pioneering poetry, stories and dance notes for the anthology, Shadow on a Tightrope, Writings by Women on Fat Oppression)
  • notes on being an art model (1978-1985)
  • Esalen Journey (1986-1987)
  • journal writings
  • notes on creativity, healing and community

I continue the completion of my  work as an artist, poet and independent scholar.

(The essay, “My Archival Journey” was first written in April, 2010 and updated on December 7, 2020).

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine

“garden stones”

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Saturday, May 2nd, 2020

garden stones
when I hold you
do you ever think of me

you of this earth
that gives
with a scorching scar
to finally heal us

+

stones
tonight we are
finally together again
at last after being sequestered

the hidden gift
of your internal grace
beside me once again

silence of your touch
beside me
this unexpected vibrancy
a gift of birthright

hour of unspoken awareness
in praise of a new
yet ancient language

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Categories : Selected Poetry

Meher Baba, The Awakener

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Saturday, May 25th, 2019

My spiritual and creative search has led me to the teachings of Avatar Meher Baba, who is also called The Awakener.

There are many resources including films and writings by and about  Meher Baba, for those who are interested in Him.  Eternal Beloved is one such film that I recommend.

The spiritual connection to Meher Baba gives me a beautiful sense of oneness with all of the world’s major faith traditions.

The birthday of Avatar Meher Baba (1894-1969) is February 25.

In meetings and gatherings, including celebrations for His birthday, Meher Baba followers  discuss His life and teachings. These Meher Baba meetings may include films about Him, writings, special speakers, music and devotional poems.

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life

Wayward Star Devotional Poems

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Saturday, January 6th, 2018

 

My poetry book, Wayward Star, Devotional Poems by Sharon Lia Robinson is available through Sheriar Books.

This collection includes poems evoking both the Catholic and Jewish traditions with my faith in Meher Baba, the Ancient One. Through Meher Baba’s love and grace I am inspired to visit my neighborhood Catholic Church for prayer, spiritual direction and friendship. This selection of poems reflects my pilgrimage. 

From the Foreward by Charles Haynes, author of Meher Baba, The Awakener: “Read aloud the poems in this book, listen with the ears of the heart. Like all poems posted to what Sharon describes as ‘a cloud unknown,’ the poems in this volume can open doorways to the Silence where truth dwells deep within all living things.”
Published 2017.

Here is an excerpt from the poem “His Holy Will”  on page 33 in the book.

pray work rest
dance dream
wear a scarf

because one loves God

be bold be meek
turn the other cheek
because one loves God

beg camp revamp
write a letter
get a postage stamp

write a tribute to Him
a Mass a communion hymn
because one loves God

draw the water at the well
take a drop from the wishing well
don’t be afraid
if you tire for a spell

because one loves God

kiss the wound
you found
hear the holy sound
let His glory
in your heart resound

because you love God.

                 (poem written March 30, 2016)
                                    

 

 

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life, Selected Poetry

Simone the Cat (Stories and Poems For Children)

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (2)
Thursday, June 8th, 2017

I have written several collections of stories and poems for children, inspired by my experience as a part-time nanny, by the companionship of my cats, Simon and Simone, and by my imagination.  I hope that you enjoy the following excerpts.

A Day Indoors

we stayed indoors

the day of the storm

we sat by the fire

we were nice and warm

she didn’t hear the wind

she didn’t hear the rain

she slept at my feet

she never heard the sleet

my little cat

Simone fast asleep.

As A Child

at first I did not know
the names of trees
I loved the wind
the garden breeze
watched and waved
to the trains passing by
while I watered
peach and plum tree
the small child pond
the West Los Angeles sun
our home
on Ashby Lane

Meow Meow

at teatime we chat
about our cats
Sam will hide
when a guest appears
who knows why
its not real clear
while Claire
will simply climb upon
any lap that comes along
Nini prances
for a song
performing solo
for one or for a throng
yet my favorite cat
is sweet Simone
because she lives with me
content at home.

 

I wrote Imagine That!  (a collection of stories and poems for young children) during the summer of 1987, when I was a live-in nanny for two toddlers, in Amherst, Massachusetts.  Here are some excerpts.

Because of You

because of you
I feel so good
when we go for a walk
in our neighborhood

or take a ride
to a sandy beach
or watch the stars
before it’s time to sleep

because of you
I love to play
inside the house
on a rainy day

because of you
I am beginning to see
that I can be happy
by simply being me.

The Owie

today I hurt my knee
when I was stung
by a bee

mommy kissed me
and she also
kissed my knee

later, she put on a band-aid
and she gave me a glass of fresh lemonade
I hope I never get stung
again by a bee
and so does my knee.

Mr. Cat

Mr. Cat is very very fat

Mr. Cat is very very furry

His fur is white and brown

In fact, he is not our cat

He belongs to our neighbor, May
Who lives across the way.

When he comes over to visit, we play

And I always wish he would stay.

The Searchlight

Dancing across the sky at night

The rays of a long white searchlight

What is it looking for?

What is it trying to see?

I can see the searchlight

Do you think that it can see me?

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Categories : Children's Literature, Selected Poetry

Ms. Lily Sabina Fairweather

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (8)
Monday, May 29th, 2017

In this story I share my experience with a transgender friend and how I feel she was helped in knowing of Meher Baba.

“Yvonne: Your lines, your lines, your coloring book lines. What happens if I scribble, if I scribble, if I scribble, if the girl’s face is green and her eyes purple?”  (From Sculpture Lessons, my experimental play, 1974).

In 1973, at the Venice, California Women’s Center, I saw a notice inviting people to a meeting of the Los Angeles Feminist Theatre.  I arranged to get a ride from my Santa Monica apartment to the home of Sarah and Michael Sappington-Kuhn.

Sara had written a play, with the hope that she could present a performance at the November, 1973 opening of the Los Angeles Women’s Building, the innovative downtown cultural center for the arts.  The meeting was to gather a group of people to participate in the play.

I had recently moved back to Santa Monica, California from Staten Island, New York, where I had attended Richmond College; my 1974 Bachelor of Arts degree a focus on women’s studies.

Now, in my small Santa Monica apartment, I was writing my first experimental play, Sculpture Lessons.

At the Los Angeles Feminist Theatre meeting that evening, I was drawn to a very unusual-looking person who was sitting on the living room floor.

He introduced himself to the group as being Albert Michael Weber, and then explained his appearance.  He spoke in his own words, quoted from books, and also gave us printed flyers; a collage of glitter, hand-painted footnotes, drawings and typed messages.

He shared with us that he was, in anthropological terms, “the third sex, the shaman.”   He said he preferred to be called Ms. Lily Sabina Fairweather, the name of the maid in Thornton Wilder’s play, The Skin of our Teeth.

That evening, “Sabina” was dressed in costume – including a beautiful black lace top, velvet blue slacks, women’s shoes and stockings.  “She” wore make-up, colorful nail polish, and a large-brimmed straw Mexican hat.

“Her” appearance was intriguing to me, since I was also, for very different psychological reasons, “different.”  Even in this culturally open theatre atmosphere, Sabina’s appearance was noticed.

As I became friends with Sabina, I learned more about her background.  Sabina had grown up in Detroit, Michigan.  Her mother was a dancer and dance teacher.  From an early age, Sabina, born a physical boy, had yearned to dress as a girl.  He wanted to be a she.

She had attended Wayne State University where she had studied anthropology.  In her studies, she had found evidence of third sex gender roles and shamans.  Somewhere along the way, Sabina had traveled to Eugene, Oregon to meet and study with biologist Dr. Raymond Peat.

Sabina’s journey was to express herself, her essence, carrying placards along the Venice, California boardwalk, making collage art and flyers, attending transsexual support groups, shopping in thrift stores and finding friends.

On her bicycle, Sabina often road into West Los Angeles, exploring the university area.

She often quoted Dr. Ray Peat, William Blake, Mircea Eliade, Carl Jung, Wilhelm Reich, Elizabeth Gould Davis, Alexandro Jodorowsky, Robert Graves and others.

In 1977, Filis Frederick from the Los Angeles Meher Baba Center  showed an introductory film of Meher Baba, and answered questions in Santa Monica, at The Church in Ocean Park.  The church was an open-minded place where diverse community groups could give presentations on Sunday evenings.

I recall being attracted to the picturesque scenery of India.  Sabina was fascinated with counter culture films, holograms, and the vision of each person’s uniqueness.

After that initial encounter, Sabina found her way to the Meher Baba Center, which was then located in West Los Angeles.  There, she was given her copy of the Discourses, written by Meher Baba.

In the Discourses and other writings from Meher Baba, she underlined and starred certain passages she liked that gave her courage, support and validation.  She would read some of those passages aloud to me and other friends.

I recall that Sabina seemed to connect the mystical writings of William Blake with the teachings of Meher Baba.

The noteworthy sentence by William Blake,  “Man in the Resurrection changes his Sexual Garments at will,”  also gave my friend Sabina much needed courage and comfort.

However, her unconventional dress, outsider personality, and lack of a solid support system soon thereafter led to her leaving the Los Angeles area.

Eventually, I learned that Sabina had died of a brain tumor at her home in the southeast United States, surrounded by her paper collage and assemblages, wine bottles, glitter, and the lovely large size thrift store costumes and dresses.

Today, we have well-known transgender people such as Chaz Bono (formerly Chastity Bono), and more openness to gender diversity in many ways.  In 1976, there was only Ms. Lily Sabina Fairweather, fledgling support groups and a distant rainbow flag.

I  am grateful that when she lived, Ms. Lily Sabina Fairweather was able to know of Meher Baba, that His words gave her comfort and inspiration, and that Meher Baba was able to convey His message to her. I am grateful Sabina was able to read Meher Baba’s spiritual writings. I feel Sabina received hope and is now in a place of light and love in eternity.

(Written on February 2, 2014)

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine, Meher Baba In My Life

Mirage

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Friday, April 7th, 2017

these clouds want me to be happy
especially in spring

when you call unexpectedly
at my doorstep
or at the rain-splattered window

or in the solo violin of remembrance
at my brother’s music class
and in the tambourine
as I wander these remote desert roads
clouds call to me

a rainbow direction
a confident smile
a mark of your Love
or sometimes hearing your call
even when I don’t listen

even in disruption or confusion
even in the still of the night
a new dress rehearsal
or a mysterious view in the stars
a sense of stillness
in the sandbar

April 7, 2017

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Categories : Selected Poetry

A Friend Arrives

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (2)
Thursday, December 22nd, 2016

ganesh

each day

the wintry grey

I follow the map

of His will

a day of interruption
perception literary abduction

yet sudden change removes obstruction

the grid off the grid

His healing bid

vision hidden within

the change of the wind

 

       December 18, 2016  Advent

 

 

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life, Selected Poetry

Sculpture Lessons (My First Play)

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Monday, June 20th, 2016

clay dance Sculpture 3
Claydance sculpture by Sharon Lia Robinson

 

I have written a collection of four experimental plays.  These theatre collages reflect the search for love, self-acceptance and wholeness.  I wrote the first play, Sculpture Lessons, while I was living in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California, 1973-1974. 

This experimental play is 31 pages, including  production notes and ideas for stage direction and music improvisation.

Let me know if you would like to see the entire play in hard copy or online. 

Here is an excerpt.

 

A young woman, in conflict with mainstream versions of acceptable social life, asserts her own way of living.  Includes poetry, dialogue, and a Greek chorus.  The play can also include music, video, song-poems, and dance.
A celebration of  finding one’s authentic self and an example of my early literary voice.

Chorus: My spirit is cleansed, my body renewed, by this union with others in which I am me.  No longer threatened by gurus or thieves, I can speak out because now I can listen.

Ina: Could it be that despite the complexities, the struggles, the death knolls, we grow, we struggle, we survive?  We survive to continue to suffer and to laugh and to cry and to love.  To be hated for what we are. To be loved for what we are mistaken for.  And forever the fortune of time:  the power to heal all wounds.  The blessed gate of time through which we strive for eternal salvation.

 

 

(These theatre notes for Sculpture Lessons were originally written in May 26, 2014).

 

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine

Tinto

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Saturday, May 14th, 2016

in the fire of change
I find my lost colors

smoke of azul and rose
twisting into light blue
destiny of sky

where are you
if not in this fire
where are you
if not in this sun?

fragile and light
fragile yet strong

you sleep within these colors
you live within this sun

along borders of fragrant passage
you face the sun
you face the fire

the tree turns to ash
its limbs only a reminder
of the future creation

tinted in rose
painted in blue

in the fire of change
I see your light

in the final fire
a chant of repose
turning toward heaven.

San Miguel d’Allende, Spring, 1987.

Tinto means dyeing colors in Spanish. In Mexico, I wrote this poem after building a fire in an outdoor fire pit, heating a large tub of water, and then putting the colored dye and white t-shirt into the water. This poem is about transformation; an outward activity becomes a symbol of the inner journey. That is one possible interpretation.

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life, Selected Poetry

Elijah!

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (7)
Sunday, April 17th, 2016

The Prophet Elijah

last evening
Elijah the prophet
visited me

he arrived with
the sunset
on the early
spring wind

I poured burgundy
wine into the
turquoise clay goblet

we shared the wine
Elijah and me
we lit the candles
at my altar

when the wine
was all finished
I was ready for bed

Elijah asked me
if he could stay over
in the guest bedroom

where the cat Simone
sleeps on the high-up dresser

she jumps up there
from the bed
to see out the window

I have plenty
of extra blankets
and pillows

so Elijah was
my overnight guest
he sang me a lullabye.

A glass of wine is traditionally placed on the Passover Seder table for Elijah, and during the Seder the door is symbolically opened for him. This poem is my unconventional celebration and could take place any time; and is open to interpretation and imagination.  There are many traditional and diverse ways to celebrate and to observe the holiday. In my opinion, one may add whatever is meaningful for them, to celebrate a holiday/holyday.

April 14, 2014, Passover

 

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Categories : Selected Poetry

Presence of Grace

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Wednesday, February 10th, 2016

Helma's statue
Helma’s Madonna & Child, photo by Sue Cook

thank you Lord Meher Baba
for the gift of your presence

in my life
at the end of the day
when I have finished my writing

I am able to walk
to my local church
St. Mary Star of the Sea

where I may pray
in the side chapel
with a small group

or sit alone
in silence
in the sanctuary

where candles burn
before the holy altars

where I may
light a candle
in your love
oh Christ Divine

where I may find the answers
where I may get a sense of direction
immersion in your perfection

perhaps even take a note
of inspiration
to share with friends
about your healing

your gift of love
the mystery found in all places.

St. Mary Star of the Sea
February 10, 2016

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life

Terumah*

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Sunday, February 7th, 2016
ris and rhody 

in the sacred realm
art prayer identity

I long to keep
a holy covenant with God

within sound breath light
may I continue on the path
to feel God’s love

within the sound breath light

of the sacred name
in all faiths times places

Amen.

*Hebrew for gift or offering

7 February, 2016

 

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life, Selected Poetry

A Psalm

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Wednesday, December 16th, 2015

the ecumenical queen
lives in a garden unseen

her secret prayers at twilight
psalms of holy delight

a new yet ancient
apostolic creed
in a castle of divine weed

kindness in thought word and deed
follow Him, believe.

              

                                             December 16, 2015

 

 

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life, Selected Poetry

A Weekend Serenade

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Saturday, September 5th, 2015

from the local consignment shop
this lovely little cloth bag I just found

the clasp and the knob
appear difficult at times
to close

like your heart
the Lord tells me

this other bag
that you almost bought
has a clasp
that is easier to close

yet you were right
to wait around the shop
looking like a waif
until I gave you the clue
for this bag that is just for you

this bag with the lovely
embroidered flower design
you just bought
also has a slightly discolored place
you didn’t notice at first
and so does your heart

the stain that I have cleansed
for you

although the small consignment shop
has no name
the owner is not to blame

Lord Meher Baba
I took your name
all around town
now I am tired
and almost lame
from all the walking

saying your name
without a rosary
talking to myself
and some people see

the indifference
the Divine Game

the house that was sold
the barking dog
the new owner who smiled
and introduced his pet

the Lord smiles kindly
we are not finished yet.

September 5, 2015

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life, Selected Poetry

Come for Tea

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Sunday, May 24th, 2015

ris and rhody

come for tea
said the queen bee

there’s darjeeling
and songs to sing

every time
we meet
to drink to pray to seek

I discover
another facet
of your radiant light

in the garden

 

  September 12, 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life, Selected Poetry

Begin

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Saturday, May 9th, 2015

Robinson Art 255

“Let the love that was once a fire remain an ember.”  Cole Porter, Begin the Beguine

happily letting go
of an ancient identity
that no longer serves

my heart-felt gift
the very day
I was born

a form a creed a place
time and Divine Presence
may easily erase

no longer the plan
with new sparkle
and Grace
today
I am who I am

May 9, 2015
(Clay art vase by Sharon Lia Robinson)

 

 

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life, Selected Poetry

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Monday, March 30th, 2015

 

 

 

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine

Dream Child, An Experimental Play (Excerpt)

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Wednesday, February 11th, 2015

 
(A poetry preview and some notes about my rock opera, “Dream Child,” featuring in the cast, Eva Bogislav, an attractive Renoiresque poet and Aaron Hernandez, a homeless street musician.
Perhaps I will locate a musician for writing the music for the song-poems).

 

“Wild Child”
song poem by Sharon Lia Robinson

wild child
come in from the cold
wild child
planting flowers
only you can see
wild child
clinging to life’s tree
wild child
crying out to me
crying out to be
crying out to see
the light of love
you are meant to be.
wild child, when will you find your true song?

 

(The experimental play I have written, Dream Child,
opens with Dream Child, a homeless musician,
playing acoustic guitar and singing the following song).

 

“Living on the Street”
song poem by Sharon Lia Robinson

living on the street
sleeping on the beach
waking up to pray
in a stranger’s garden

 

what about the guy
on the other side of that fence
he won’t let me in
he only asks
too many questions

 

he doesn’t want my answers
he doesn’t like my message
I am I am I am
living on the street

 

for the sake of love
living in the name of love
living for the way
the way of love

 

he doesn’t want my message
he won’t trust the work
he can hear me calling
from the other side of whim

 

yes I’m living for the sake of love
on the other side of whim
divine high
divine time
divine whim

 

all of life
is a gift
loving our Creator
love God love.

 

(Many of my writings portray unconventional, outsider women who search for love and fulfillment. All of these plays and stories are now dedicated to Meher Baba, whose love and teachings help me to accept my “otherness,” giving me insights and a sense of self-acceptance.

I think that in many ways, I was seeking to portray those of us who desire love as a shelter against the coldness, the social isolation of our being different, to heal the sense of alienation.

My experimental play, Dream Child is a series of song poems and dialogue, dance and music with film possibilities. A director, a producer, or anyone who may be interested in the potential of this play – please let me know and I can send you a copy.

The woman in the play, alone, is searching for a companion, perhaps as mask for an unknown, silent spiritual yearning, an inner depth, unfathomable.

I received one very special comment during the discussion after a reading of Dream Child in summer, 2011. An actor who liked the play said I might be interested in the writing of Charles Mee. This led me to the website of Charles Mee, who likes to call his plays collages.

On his website, Chuck Mee writes, “ I like plays that are not too neat, too finished, too presentable. My plays are broken, jagged, filled with sharp edges, filled with things that take sudden turns, careen into each other, smash up, veer off in sickening turns. That feels good to me. It feels like my life. It feels like the world.
And then I like to put this—with some sense of struggle remaining—into a classical form, a Greek form, or a beautiful dance theatre piece, or some other effort at civilization.” 

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine

Remembrance For An Unknown Artist

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Sunday, February 8th, 2015

 

(Max Reif has written a poem called, “To A Visionary Whose Name I’ll Never Know.” His poem is a remembrance of an unknown woman, perhaps an angel, who smiled at him when he was feeling alone in New York City. His story prompted me to write this one).

 

During the years I lived in Staten Island, New York, I often traveled into Manhattan to visit my poet friend, David or to go to a play or to the library or a museum.

 

One day, I was lucky to find a seat, close to the front of the bus during a very busy afternoon in downtown Manhattan. As usual, I felt a profound sense of loneliness and alienation. I was from a small town, Croton-on-Hudson, New York, and I was used to being greeted by people I knew in the town. Here, no one smiled or looked at one another. I decided to break the mold.

 

Here was my chance to be different, to be unique, to express myself. Yet everyone looked so distant, so unfriendly. I retreated into my fantasy lover, in my imagination.

 

In the midst of such a mixture of reflections, a man entered the bus, stood on the aisle briefly and then soon found an available corner of a crowded seat, facing diagonally across from me.

 

He had a very large and bulky looking black artist’s portfolio. I don’t recall too much about him except that he had very dark hair and was perhaps also all dressed in black. He had to hold the large portfolio close to him, so that others could board the bus.

 

I felt sympathy for the man, because he looked so miserable and alone. I imagined he had been rejected for an art sale, or perhaps from a job as an artist. I smiled at the man. He seemed to ignore me.

 

I felt somewhat lost myself, yet thought again of a friend and my upcoming museum visit. Some minutes went by. From time to time, I would glance at the unhappy looking artist, smiling at him and hoping he would find a better chance in life and in art. I gave up the hope, the attachment that he might smile back at me.

 

Lost in thought, I was amazed when the dejected looking artist, just before I was to exit the bus, stretched out his hand, looked at me with gratitude, and simply said, in a kind way, “Thank you… thank you for your smile, for your kindness.”

 

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine, Meher Baba In My Life

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Friday, September 12th, 2014

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine

Reflections After Silence

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Wednesday, July 16th, 2014

His lingering silence
holds a place
in every heart.

The Lord sits in silence
within yet without
the Tower of Babel.

                                       July 13, 2014

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life

“whatever happened”

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (0)
Tuesday, July 1st, 2014

whatever happened to that
lonely outsider fat girl

she became a
disciple of love

she planted
a small heather bush

she took her tabby cat
to a holistic vet

she made a cup of chai
and she sat down
to write her memoir

she became
a disciple of love

                     July 1, 2014

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Categories : An Unconventional Heroine

whoever i am, i’m a fat womon (Film)

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (3)
Wednesday, May 7th, 2014

Poetry Performance by Sharon Lia Robinson © 1979, © 2014

This  is a 1979 film of my early feminist poem “whoever i am, i’m a fat womon.”   This poem was written in 1976/1977 and is in my 1978 chapbook, “fat womon/renaissance.”  The poem is also in the anthology, “Shadow on a Tightrope, (Writings by women on Fat Oppression), published by Aunt Lute Books.

Please share/post this archival poetry film for others to see.

“whoever i am, i’m a fat womon” was originally filmed  by Lynne Conroy in January, 1979.  For the Theater Project of the  Goddard-Cambridge Graduate Program in Social Change, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Lynne Conroy and I were theater students there.

This film is a rehearsal for the Radcliffe College Women’s Theater Festival, January 1979, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 2008 I researched and arranged for technical transfer of the 1979 reel to reel 1/2 inch videotape to DVD.

In May, 2014, Reverend Ed Evans of Sequim, Washington, did the film editing for including this film poem on my website and for youtube.

Produced by Sharon Lia Robinson, May, 2014, with screen titles and roses.

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Categories : Film, Selected Poetry

Lectio Divina

By Sharon Lia Robinson · Comments (1)
Wednesday, March 5th, 2014

I find Lectio Divina is a contemplative refuge for me, yet also a way for reaching back into the world.  A way to find answers.
The practice originated with the Benedictine Order of the Roman Catholic Church.  I had briefly read a pamphlet about Lectio several years ago.  The practice was initially formed as a solo form of contemplative prayer.
Then last year, I began to attend Lectio Divina in a small Lenten group setting at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Port Townsend, Washington.
I did some research and discovered that Lectio (Divine Reading) is now also sometimes practiced for spiritual discernment in combination with creative dance, poems, photographs and making art; even with films.
The ongoing development of Lectio with the potential of encompassing all faiths and many forms of spiritual expression, is a special way to “practice the presence” either solo or in a group setting.

May 1, 2013, a few additional notes

Lectio Divina is a reading of a sacred text for meditation, prayer and discernment.  This process can be done alone or within a group context.  This evening, for the very first time, one of my poems was chosen to be the focus of the Lectio Divina experience.

An aspect of my commentary during our discussion was the phrase by Meher Baba, “God alone is real.”   Another comment I included was, “I am casting all of my burdens on the Christ within and I am free.” (a saying by Unity Minister Catherine Ponder).

I am honored that my poem was accepted for the gathering this evening, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Port Townsend, Washington.

I am gratitude that my writings exist in places where they may be shared to inspire people, so that people are better able to understand life and the society in which we live.

I am grateful that I am able, as a poet and an artist, to give to others on their spiritual journey.
This is the poem that was included in the Lectio Divina.


In The Night Of My Heart

by Sharon Lia Robinson

“I am never alone
I speak with you always
You speak with me always…”
(from Vrindaban by Octavio Paz)

In the night of my heart
I hold a place of healing

A sacred place of sojourn
A peaceful setting for pilgrimage

In the midnight moon of my heart
I sense a deeper truth
Yearning growing fruitful
Beyond misunderstanding

I hold this special place
Hallowed receptive knowing.

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Categories : Meher Baba In My Life
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