The Power of Poetry

The Power of Poetry

with things falling apart

and anarchy let loose, 

it was only poetry, he found,

which had any use,

so he reached for his copy

of The Complete Works of Yeats

and bludgeoned the President

of the United States

-Brian Bilston

I Walk on Gilded Splinters

Some people think they jive me
But I know they must be crazy
They don't see dey misfortune
Or else they just a little too lazy

I Walk thru the fire

An I Fly thru the smoke
I wanna see my enemies
At the end of my rope

I Walk on pins and needles
An I See what they can do
I Walk on gilded splinters
With the king of the Zulu

Singing
Come to me giddi come come
Walk on gilded splinters
Come to me giddi come come
Walk on gilded splinters

Till I burn up, Till I burn Up, Till I burn up.

I'm walking out of my coffin
Drink poison in my chalice
Pride begins to fade
And y'all will feel my malice

Put gris gris on your doorstep
Soon you'll be in the gutter
looking just like butter
A-a-and I can make you stutter

I Walk thru the fire
An I Fly thru the smoke
I wanna see my enemies
At the end of my rope

I Walk on pins and needles
An I See what they can do
I Walk on gilded splinters
With the king of the Zulu

Singing
Come to me giddi come come
Walk on gilded splinters
Come to me giddi come come
Walk on gilded splinters

Till I burn up, Till I burn Up, Till I burn up.

A Contemplation

A Contemplation

My body is no longer my own. It contains a
sprout like a fiddlehead fern frond, curled
inward on itself.

Microscopic cells mystically multiply
with fervor, their intention known only
to themselves.

While I breathe, while I sleep, whether
I churn like a river or remain a placid lake,
this body has

Its own mission. Summer is coming.

-Kathryn Harper

When the ICE agent is Canadian… | This Hour Has 22 Minutes

This is your feel-good video for the day!

Self-Care in Political Chaos

Someone shared this clip from PBS with me: The surprising way to fight political exhaustion, in which sociologist Tressie McMillan Cottom talks about "agency" as a key to countering exhaustion from relentless horrible world news and politics. 

She's on point. It makes me think... if I'm standing still awhile, it starts to hurt and get heavy, my feet and hips ache, etc. But if I walk or move in some way, pain recedes. (I had a lot of retail jobs long ago.) Passive consumption of news forces us to stand and hold heaviness, which feels even MORE heavy because that's all we're attending to. I liked her term: agentic. 

This is why I've joined to volunteer with Action for Happiness, and why I've started making "little art" earnestly, on the regular, and why I'm returning to frequent entries here, and might even write poetry again. Since this post is public, I can't pretend I'll be a secret agent -- but I can be an agent for kindness. 

The Bun

 

she is soft and gray
and likes to play, binking and
zooming around.
she snacks on flowers,
a sentient lawnmower
wherever grasses abound. 

        -Kathryn Harper        

What Is Real

"In our constant search for meaning in this baffling and temporary existence, trapped as we are within our three pounds of neurons, it is sometimes hard to tell what is real. We often invent what isn't there. Or ignore what is". 

- Alan Lightman

Picture This - Things Are Different

Some of us will drift apart while others stay together

And some will step in from the rain while others face the weather
And some will take their last breath while others breathe new life
And though they're standing on our necks, there's still the will to fight

Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything has changed
And I know the world's on fire, but there's beauty in the flame
And we don't know how much longer
But we know we're gonna come back stronger, oh-oh
Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything, anything has changed

Some of us will lose ourselves while others rediscover (ooh)
The lovers and the innocence, a baby to its mother (ooh)
And some will grasp it in their hands while others lose control (ooh)
Yeah, we gotta leave our fingerprints to let the future know, oh

Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything has changed
And I know the world's on fire, but there's beauty in the flame
And we don't know how much longer
But we know we're gonna come back stronger, oh-oh
Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything, anything has changed

I'll be the light (eh)
If you follow me, I will be everything you need
I'll be the leader
If you want it, I promise that I will set you free

Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything has changed
And though the world's on fire, there's beauty in the flame
And we don't know how much longer
But we know we're gonna come back stronger, oh-oh
Just 'cause things are different, don't mean anything, anything has changed

I'll be the light (eh)
If you follow me, I will be everything you need
I'll be the leader
If you want it, I promise that I will set you free (changed)

I'll be the light (eh)
If you follow me, I will be everything you need
I'll be the leader (eh)
If you want it, I promise that I will set you free

Practice

The art journal practice is strong. Some days I do one page and others result in several. The process draws me into wordless intuition. It's a little mysterious. I always enjoy it and like the results, and sometimes I feel as though a bit of magic unfolded. Today felt like that.

Low Winter Sun

Low Winter Sun 

The sun peers

over my shoulder

through the window.

Winter sunlight arrives

deferentially -- or perhaps

casually, like a cat deciding

to settle for a nap against

a poet on the sofa.

-Kathryn Harper

Greenland Defense Front - The Hungry Giant (Official Music Video)

On Renee Nicole Good

On The Resolve of Minnesota

Reality

I am not okay. I saw the video of Renee Good being murdered. I am an empath and a therapist. I had to find the energy and attention to be present with my clients today, while also carrying the physical, mental, and emotional load of horror and despair. It's the misogyny. The fact that a government entity is lying about what happened. The speed with which a man just decided to snuff out a woman's life by obliterating her face with bullets and then calling her a "fucking bitch" after. I appreciate these events are documented on video, but it's also traumatic to witness.

Barns Courtney - Glitter & Gold

I am flesh and I am bone
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter and gold
I've got fire in my soul
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Like glitter and gold
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Like glitter

Do you walk in the valley of kings?
Do you walk in the shadow of men
Who sold their lives to a dream?
Do you ponder the manner of things
In the dark
The dark, the dark, the dark

I am flesh and I am bone
I'll rise ting ting like glitter and gold
I've got fire in my soul
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Like glitter and gold
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Like glitter

Do you walk in the meadow of spring?
Do you talk to the animals?
Do you hold their lives from a string?
Do you ponder the manner of things
In the dark
The dark, the dark, the dark

I am flesh and I am bone
I'll rise ting ting like glitter and gold
I've got fire in my soul
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter
I am flesh and I am bone
I'll rise ting ting like glitter and gold
I've got fire in my soul
Rise up, ting ting, like glitter

'Cause everybody in the backroom's spinning out
Don't remember what you're asking for
And everybody in the front room's tripping out
You left your bottle at the door
Cause everybody in the backroom's spinning out
Don't remember what you're asking for
And everybody in the front room's tripping out
You left your bottle at the door

Fireflies

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
'Cause they fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude but I would just stand and stare

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
I fall asleep

Leave my door open just a crack
(Please take me away from here)
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac
(Please take me away from here)
Why do I tire of counting sheep?
(Please take me away from here)
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep
(Please take me, please take me away from here)

To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
Got misty eyes as they said farewell (we sailing away)
But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar (we sailing away)

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems (we sailing away)
I'd like to make myself believe (believe)
That planet Earth (turn, turns) turns slowly (slowly)
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems (I fall asleep)
I'd like to make myself believe
Planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams

Art Fun

Somewhere across one of my social media feeds a person shared a little hobby that caught my attention. It involves graph paper, one-inch squares of paper, scissors, and glue. I have a lot of extra bits of paper from painting and crafting, so I went to town on making them into squares. The goal of this is the process, not perfection. So the squares need not be perfectly one-inch, nor do they need to be affixed in perfect alignment. I had a lot of fun with these two pages and will definitely do more.

Oh Please!

Tanka

 

The blue sky, hidden

wind painting clouds in brushstrokes

crows, a swath of dots --

winter is tracing its name

I wait patiently for spring.

-Kathryn Harper

The Library, Mid-Winter

The Library, Mid-Winter

The library chair holds the shape of a body
better than the body holds the news.
Outside, the rain is a gray slant of percussion,
drumming a rhythm for a march starting 
somewhere south of our borders.

We ate eggs while discussing our work
of mending, healing hearts and minds.
We called out each other's blind spots
to examine, completely safe within
our connection of love and respect.

But it’s time to undress the Christmas tree,
to stow the baubles and lights, yet I dawdle.
The branches hold beloved memories
that visit once a year. There is no guarantee
I will unpack them again.

I think of the earth, waiting for the pine,
waiting for me -- to be turned back into
something that helps the flowers grow.

-Kathryn Harper