Wednesday, January 27, 2021

grief makes a home


grief
makes itself a home in my body
coating the back of my throat
seeping down past my lungs
to fill not my heart but my ribcage
with weighted sorrow
a drenched wool blanket woven of anguish
clutching at my sternum
obstinately unyielding
constricting each breath

how can there not be more words than sorrow
for this thing that invades
refusing to be released in tears or sobs
or through my gut
not giving way to lament
but cowering
dulling thought and will
corrupting energy to consume me from
within
hollowing out a space
simultaneously filling with dread and
emptying into an abyss

grief that I cannot carry
nor discard
nor transform
but only mourn its presence
be its companion
honor it even as
I hope for hope
to expunge it 
from my being


Image by Nuno Lopes from Pixabay

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Release

My word is release
by which I mean being free
experiencing relief
the liberation from oppression
of gifts, of thoughts, 
of my very way of being
by which I mean freedom

Being released into the wild
of a new time, next time

Being released from the catch
to swim again in life-giving waters
the thrill of the rushing mountain-cold stream

Release which is rooted
in the ability
to stretch out again
slacken
relax

My word is release
may I be released into your midst
to be among you
free and clear
and whole

(For Wendy, Francie, Twila and many others. January 8, 2021)


Image by Jordan Holiday from Pixabay