Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Address to my Students - UNI 201 Spoken Word Event

What an incredible journey it has been. We, as a group, have defined education as a holistic process, not merely the relaying of information from one to others.

In our Spoken Word class, we combined the use of our minds, bodies and spirits to address the very basis of our ability and right to human interaction.

As a result of our interconnection, our dreams and desires, our trust, and our capacity to examine and share our fears, we created an environment in which we were ultimately able to access our truth and our capacity to learn and teach each other from a place where fear has not held us at bay.

This fluidity is perfection. Learning, like love, is about openness; it is about sharing information and thought. You are gaining a mastery in this and it is a rarity in contemporary education.

Your desire and willingness are a much greater measure of success than a letter or percentage grade.

Knowledge and learning are shared gifts and for this I thank you.

I will take this opportunity to address a question we examined in class: "Why write?"
-if for no other reason than to share the story of your beautiful life, to take the reader or listener by the hand and walk them through the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touches of your real or imaginary worlds. For through a multiplicity of perspectives, so shall we know ourselves better.

I look forward to the many journeys we will take through your hearts and minds this evening. Love and blessings to all.

-Gillian Cornwall, November 15, 2011


Saturday, November 26, 2011

Autumn on the Island

"I let myself go into the passing landscape as the Greyhound races over the Malahat. Raindrops tear across the window pane and the forest blurs a golden green red rust perfection. From this warm, dry seat I traverse this wilderness of fog and mystery in relative coach comfort.

I place myself in these woods, down paths over spongy undergrowth and through a thousand stories waiting patiently for my arrival, each one held in the gem drops of moisture on the tips of the fragrant pine needles. I can smell the tales and taste them in this silty, salty, coastal soil. I am here and here again and at once with the past and future colliding in the big bang of the present.

There are fireplaces and books and peaceful moments with your head in my lap as I read you the story you have always wanted to hear, the one you never knew existed but it has always been right here in our shared cellular structure, in this peaceful place of perfection.

It is autumn, my love. You can rest easy here with a lullaby of golden leaves dancing down from these ancient trees."

-Gillian Cornwall, October 22, 2011.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Walking the Path Inside and Out

What transpires in our hearts as we traverse our life paths all intertwined, running parallel and doubling back? Our motions as open thermodynamic units, mirroring the minutia of our own atoms and molecules, we careen through chaotic space and time where everything is happening all at once.

Brave and crazy, we remain in motion, all in a million directions, each with a different map, yet, all with the same destination. Through the traps and blockades of fear we march on, heading towards pure love.
- Gillian Cornwall, 21May 2011

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Thursday, November 17, 2011

My Radio Interview with CFUV in Victoria, BC


Have a listen while I tell you my story, "The Kid", read a piece on writing and have a chat with Lynne Super of CFUV.
Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Gillian

Wendy Welch - Cell Ruminations

Please check out these beautiful new works by: Wendy Welch, Executive Director of The Vancouver Island School of Art.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Fluidity


"The wonder and greatness of all that is, all that can be imagined and beyond flows through me. I find wonder in all things and beauty in the most simple. I am in awe. Life and love abound and in the giving I am made full. Nothing is held within so there is no loss. Life is eternal in the light of freedom. What shall I choose next on my path, each footfall a fresh breath and a re-connection to the changing universe? I am engaged in the chaos, autonomous, yet completely connected. What is external is internal, each cell a microcosm of the greatness of everything. There is peace here amid the knock and grind of the human engine. I purr with life."
- Gillian Cornwall, 31May2011

Thursday, November 10, 2011

The River Witch


Where do I live
if not in your woods?
I burrow nose deep
in dead leaves and silt soil
by the river's edge

Your crows
march wicked sentinel steps
They blow my cover
pluck my eyes
drag me blind
to your lair

Feral friend
I am the interloper
in your land, in you deep
Your ash tree a marker
for my soiled soul spot
In the forest deep
I sleep

-Gillian Cornwall
Copyright 2009