Hello,
Your resource this month is POETRY.
Do you ever sit down with a book of poetry and disappear into the word images? Do you find you can drop into the feeling of the spaces between the lines? It is a place of deep rest for me. Rest and recharge. Even poems I “don’t understand”. Yes, some irritate me and feel like they’re trying to be too clever for my brain, but others lull me into a dream state, like gently rocking on a boat as the tide changes. There is a shift in my thinking, my whole body, my breathing, my self.
Try this for a brief moment: Take a breath, then read slowly.
Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips*
*from Why I Wake Early - Mary Oliver
Can you see the scene? Can you feel the sun warming your face? Do you feel something in your body as you do? Poetry can take us beyond our wordy mind. Provides images for the imagination. I find this calming. I would go far as to say that I am a better person in the world when I read poetry.
And I truly believe that receiving a poem on the breath of another is the closest gift to heaven. The combination of the poet’s mindset, mixed with the reader’s connection to it, plus their interpretation to express it to you, the listener, who then takes these sounds and filters it through their understanding and image making… is there anything more exquisitely human than this connection through expression? For me, it is a form of touch to the heart. Poetry uses words which affects me beyond words. That’s the best I can describe what it does for me. You?
Try listening to this. Does it reach into your bodily experience of life? Click on the image and it will take you to an Instagram post from 2022 of me reading Motherload by Kate Baer. I hope you take a moment to enjoy.
In 2023, I committed some of my poetry to print in Grace, Sophia & Me. These 27 poems chronicle the years from that cancer diagnosis that led me back to putting words on paper, through deepening my spiritual connection with my creative spirit, into my experience of meeting an incarcerated writer.
You can find out more and it is for purchase here: Poetry.
And I will leave you with some poetic words from those who have already enjoyed its content:
“Powerful blood-beat through the whole poetry. Congratulations! Absolutely brilliant anthology. I will read it again and again.”
“The frequency of the divine feminine tenderly graces every word, an alchemy of purity, light and beauty.”
“Congratulations Emma! You move hearts with language.”
Lastly, here’s your reminder that it is time for another Let’s Write Together! Where I will read you another poem to begin the call to the spirit of creativity.
We gather on Sunday 24th March at 10.30amPST - 1.30pmET - 5.30pmUTC (please note time difference in Europe as clocks changed here in NAmerica).
Find out more here about how we gather and share in a way that supports and uplifts. I look forward to seeing you there.
Meeting ID: 878 6074 7583. Passcode: 317168