Monday, March 21, 2022

Did I know what I was doing...

Prompt: I didn't know what I was doing or whatever pops up...
~*~

As far as I can remember,
I was born vaginally.

I'm kidding about the remembering.
Though I believe that our bodies do remember being birthed.
Surely, somewhere inside the body resides the imprint of that experience.
Or maybe it is all the way through us, in every tiny corpuscle, whatever a corpuscle is.

How much does our birthing process influence our ability to feel safe in this world?
After all, being birthed from the womb is our first entry into this realm, at this time.

Did I know what I was doing? 

It was April 1959.
I imagine my surroundings were sterile.
I imagine my human carrier, that is my mom, was sedated.
It had been the mainstream way at the time.

I imagine I was immediately taken from the canal, wrapped quickly in a blanket, then cut off from my life-cord which had fed me and kept me breathing until my exit some nine months later.

Then I was probably whisked away to a be placed in a wicker or plastic box alongside other first-timers.
All of us neatly lined up in our boxes in a room that has at least one wall with the upper half all glass.
Onlookers can view us like animals in a zoo.
Each box has a name tag.
Each first-timer, a wrist bracelet bearing the same name.

Did they know what they were doing?


Monday, March 14, 2022

And she asks her friends to blow away my cells of ingratitude...

Timeframe of event: July early 2000s...
As I slept under the stars at an overlook... 
The Saddle on the Blue Ridge Parkway...

***

I came here angry this evening 
And the old bare tree which no longer bares leaves 
Meets me
As she always does

She has stood here for decades 
On the east side of The Saddle
Where the sun rises
The wind blows and blows
But she doesn't move with the wind
For she is old and no longer flexible
But neither does the wind break her

She is twisted and gnarled by the winds of these mountains 

Some may call her ugly 
But even through my anger
I momentarily notice her beauty
Yet my anger is stronger than my notice-of-her
Anger at husband and children
Anger at feeling used 
Anger at the illness that wracks my body

And the old tree is sad
Sad that I don't embrace her beauty, her sacredness
My anger prevents me in its moment

But she does not retaliate; it is not her way
Instead, she witnesses my anger as I pull out the camping lounge chair
From the back of my green Dodge Caravan
And set it up between her and the vehicle
Huffing and puffing and cussing at life

As she watches 
She asks her friends, the trees
To blow away my cells of ingratitude 
She asks them to heal my heart

I traipse across the small, asphalt parking lot
To the west side of The Saddle 
I watch the sun set behind Buffalo Moutain
I notice the tree on this side of The Saddle
Its branches filled with leaves and swaying in the wind
Singing a tune

That night as I lie under the clear moonless sky
On the east side of The Saddle
Next to the old bare tree that no longer bears leaves...

Dozens of shooting stars streak across the sky!
Dozens!
A spectacular display of light trails!
Star dust...

For hours, I gaze
Amazed, in awe
Just me, and the wind, and the trees
And the clear, moonless night sky
Singing with streams of light 

I think of Abraham in the Bible
And how his offspring would number more than the stars of heaven
More than the grains of sand upon the earth
Gratitude fills my heart

I am of this one blood dating back millennia
Dating back millions of years to stardust
From which I was born

These stars and I are kin
The wind and I are kin
And the old bare twisted, gnarled, beautiful sacred tree
Who no longer bears leaves
Who gives witness to me 
Little ole' me

She and I are kin...

Flames upon laurels...

Prompt...write a fantasy of that which resonates with me. Of being the damsel in distress or the heroine....

~*~

My dapple-gray unicorn...
You have rescued me multiple times...
We fly to the far end of the rainbow...

Like Atreyu upon Falkor in...
Neverending Story...
Rescuers Down Under...

Witnessed by my inner helpers that tend the campfires...
And recently a new helper has come on the scene...
Grief carrier, whose palms are made to carry the flames of grief...
Which he gently places upon leaves of laurel...
Which he gently places to float upon a pond...

The flames are not extinguished, at least not yet...
Instead, they burn continuously, each upon their leaf of laurel...
Floating upon the pond like lilies...
Reflecting their beauty under the clear night sky... 
Filled with stars and sliver of moon...
Which are aflight above my grief vessel...

Palms of Grief...
He is so very blissful whenever he visits...
In my inner world...
He and the Campfire Keepers...
And me...

We all gather round Sol Disc...
Which glows like the sun...
Located in my solar plexus area...
We are all fed by Sol Disc's halo of warmth...
Blanketed but in no way suffocated...

Once fed by the disc...
Palms of Grief returns blissfully in his continued job of witnessing the flames upon the laurels...
Campfire keepers, return to their work...

And my soul is rescued in those moments...