This week I'm sharing a poem that I crafted during a recent forum with a group of fellows from the Garrison Institute. I collected the content for the poem by jotting down words and phrases that resonated with me during the conversation. Several days after the event, I came back to my notes and pulled phrases together into this poem. The process feels like a form of weaving. Weaving words. Weaving ideas. Weaving hearts and souls, really. In many ways, these weaving poems don't "make sense" in the ways that I have been conditioned to express and take in language. But when I slow down and allow the words to sink into my heart and body, I can feel the language working some sort of alchemy. I invite you to read the poem out loud yourself or listen to the recording of me reading it. Poetry is, at its roots, meant to be spoken and heard.
Collaborative Alchemy
(LISTEN TO COLLECTIVE ALCHEMY)
Relational sensemaking:
Our human capacity to take in
And make sense of the world
Together.
“We are not in Kansas anymore.”
We are three dimensional
And our center of gravity is shifting.
The world is grieving itself.
The world is healing itself.
Looking for balance,
Alleviation from the overwhelm,
Communities of witness.
Hearing the call in the ether,
Yearning for a continued dawning
And deepening of communion.
Looking for a bridge
From contemplative practice
To the world around.
Connection with a community:
Peace in, peace around,
Listening and learning,
In joy and positivity.
Wishes for peace and grounding,
Energetic settling,
Ease, and a little grace.
Our collective power.
This is transformation, I think.
Truth tears, truth chills.
Dancing with the present moment
In a call and response.
What is the moment calling for?
How am I responding?
What if the dance transforms?
No matter how good the maintenance,
Nothing can stop the effect of time.
In the dark night of the soul,
Shadow is light being shaped, reforming,
Bringing forms into three dimensionality.
Dark matter gives us perspective of light.
They are two coexisting forces that
Create space for the other to exist.
Perhaps the same with joy and grief.
Insight:
Where the mind goes energy flows.
Noticing synchronicities,
External manifestations of
Underlying entanglements,
Illuminating what is already there,
The connecting force.
Both that which we can see
And that which is not quantifiable.
Perspective shifts,
Emotion alchemy,
From despair to grief,
Rage to deep caring,
Isolation to connection.
Get practical.
Smile at everyone.
You are to embody wellbeing.
Capture a drop of the abundance of the sun
And place it in an object,
An artifact for the journey.
I've been collaborating with this first cohort of Garrison Institute Fellows for almost two years and they've become like family to me. I'm looking forward to attending the online events that some of the fellows will be facilitating in the coming months. I'll also be joining many of them to host a 5-day in-person workshop at Omega Institute from October 9-14. I'd love to invite you to join them and us for what promises to be inspiring and healing community experiences.
With love,
Jennifer