Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Grieve like you really mean it. A freestyle poem for tough times.

morning dew

Freestyle, no edits. From my body, to my heart, to my mouth, to your ears. (With some fun technology tossed in the middle).

The audio, in real-time:


 (5 minutes)

Grieve like you really mean it
grieve like you really mean it because life is hard but you’re still alive, you still have this
this
this look out the window at the bird on the shovel hanging out of the wheelbarrow in the afternoon light
you still have this
this shadow of the chair standing still against the wall while the shadow of the leaves dance around it
you still have this
your beautiful body in the mirror, that woman you’re learning to make peace with amidst all the pain, all the things you never thought it would come to

grieve like you mean it because you are still alive
and it is a blessing to feel sadness so deep
sadness you want to find someone else to blame for
sadness you want to break things over
sadness you wish you didn’t have to feel
yes—I’m talking to you
to that part of you that knows, not in your head, but in your body
how badly you need the sadness
for all those winters you avoided the cold
for all those summers you stayed by the fan
for all the times it rained and you had an umbrella
you need the sadness
us humans are good at creating shelters, homes to live in, comfort, stability
but even we cannot avoid the pain that comes with being alive
even we have a price to pay
and maybe it’s not so physical
maybe we don’t as often suffer the terror of tsunami
or the chill of a tornado… ripping and ravaging our towns

but we are left broken-hearted
we are left alone in our rooms when we thought we had forever
we are left at the doormat of the home we no longer recognize because it is not embodied and imbued with the life of our parents or our children
we suffer, we suffer despite our shelters

suffer like you mean it
wail. do not wait.
wail loudly. now.
if there is suffering in your heart, find the song, find the poem, find the picture that breaks you apart and let go.
you deserve it.
to know that you are part of all things that have to suffer
it is the price we pay for life, it is the price we pay for beauty, it is the price we pay for breathing and for smiling and for laughing and for orgasming and for kissing and for eating delicious foods and tasting blueberries explode in our mouths; it is the price we pay
it is its own form of beauty
all that have had a lump stuck in their throat for years know that when they finally break down in tears, it is freedom
grieve like you mean it
grieve like you mean it
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
The invitation:

Deep loves,
I've been in a dark hour of the soul over here, transitioning and growing up in ways I was never expecting. My answers to these questions are emerging like flies on the wall; an overflowing trashcan, asking to be emptied into poems:
  • What’s between you and that life-changing release of grief? 
  • What gets in the way of letting your guard down and letting it all out? 
  • When you do… when you grieve like you really mean it, what are you letting in?
  • What or who are you forgiving?
  • And what happens, in your body, as you go through this experience?
The comments are yours for the taking. Simmer on it. Speak to us. Or muse in your own private space. Extra credit if you're currently in an especially tender spot in your life.

I honor and appreciate you so much for being here.
madlymadly for you,
rachael

Monday, June 18, 2012

not mine







Consider this your invitation, if you feel so called:
What world is not your own?

Saturday, June 9, 2012

be with mine


Be with Mine from Jodi McLaren on Vimeo.

Heavy heart, I'll carry you tonight
I do my best, to try to see the bright side
I take you out downtown, just you and I
The roads are blocked, the traffic is thick


I start to cry

I start to cry, to cry - y- y- y 

I used to see your face more than my own
I used to touch your skin more than my own
I used to hear your words more than my own
I used to feel your love more than my own


What's there to feel? In my bones, what's there to feel? 

It's kind of funny, it's kind of sad
How it's so easy to hold the hand
Of someone else in their imperfection


why can't I, why can't I

be with mine? be with mine? 

I believe my heart was made to heal,
was made to breathe in love
and then exhale

and with each breathe released
I can choose
the song I sing 


so I'll let it out, let it out.

~~~~~

Jodi,
Thanks for giving the gift of being with yours... your whole self, your whole life, your whole everything. I adore every shade and side of you and your process. You truly do inspire me. Here's to being with ourselves, through and through, and when that becomes too much, remembering that we can also be with each other. Forever and ever, amen.
Love,
Rach

Friday, June 8, 2012

When everything falls apart

Everything will be okay because you are brave
crossed between shadows and light this morning at Qualia Coffee.

Everything will be okay, she told me, because you are brave.

Her r's rolled like a lopsided wheel, not quite as smooth or sultry as an engine's roar... more weathered, more rough. Rough also was her touch, her cool heavy hands slapping and rubbing the side of my arm like a woman in the field smacking dirt from a dirty rug. Our colors contrasted like shadow and light, only I was the shadow, despite her dark skin. No, I was nowhere to be seen on that beautifully made bed with the golden glow filling the room, filling my lungs, filling the spaces between her wise words, her motherly body and mine. I was dark like an audience, happy to disappear and listen.

Turn the page, she told me.
Do a ritual. 
Buy new underwear. Burn the old.
How open is the window in your heart?
Open it all the way.
You must open it all the way if you truly want to turn the page.
How open is your window?
If you were writing in your journal, what would you say?... You know, if you were just to write how you feel? How do you feel?

I'm tired, I told her. So so so tired.

Good, she said, her hand doing a healing dance on mine. You are brave. You have done a very brave thing. It is the time to rest. But do not look back while you are resting. Turn the page. The future is bright. Everything will be okay because you are brave.

She trailed off into stories of brave shadows who learned how to come into the light, and I believed her. I believed that I was brave, that I could begin again, that everything would be okay. I believed her simple message, her strong hands on my tired body, her smiling eyes loving mine even though we just met, even though she knew me not.

I believed her maybe because of the rough way she rolled her r's, or her rough hands, or her free body in exactly the position it felt comfortable being in. I believed her because she believed in me without hardly knowing me, and there are few things more medicinal than confidence and a calm touch when everything falls apart.

~~~~~~~

What's your saving grace when everything falls apart, loves? What sentence, phrase or face gets you through? Let's make a pool of wisdom. One we can all take a little dip into when the heartache gets too hot.

madlove and a grateful heart,
rachael