I am taking a course with the lovely Alisha Sommer and Robin E. Sandomirsky called Liberated Lines, 7 days of poetry and photographic prompts. Today is day one, and the prompt was:
Today we invite you stop ten times, or twenty, and notice your self and your life. Begin a collection of what you already are when you wake, over breakfast, as you drive to the grocery store, as you are loved, as you are forgotten or passed over.
Capture one, some, or all of these moments. Use an image and your words to begin to build this bridge to your self. You. In this moment You.
Here are mine:
- When I sat at the table scrawling the words of others onto the empty page, with the sound of cartoons pulsing and fading in the background, and then my husband passed behind me and squeezed my shoulder so that I would know he was there and he loved me, and I felt connected to every bit of my life.
- Bouncing around, pivoting left, then right, then right again. Pacing a pathway into the carpet that mirrors the directions my mind has taken, until I catch my reflection in the dark television screen, sink to my knees and tell myself I can still be me when I am still.
- There was a package lying on the table waiting for me, but I didn't notice it since I was only using my eyes enough to navigate furniture and not enough to really see, because the rest of my vision was focused inward.
- Settling into my old stride, flipping back and forth in the pages of my planner, mapping out a life fortified by dreams.
- i see the moon/ the moon sees me/ i push/ she pulls/ i let go
- Me and this paper and the sound of the pen scratching its surface, tattooing each line with fixed and fleeting thoughts.
- amidst the clang of pots/ and the sounds of persistent simmering/ stir, boil, breathe deep/ meals that smell like home
- i hear them call me/ mama/ from three rooms away, like a whisper on the wind/ and i second guess whether i really heard anything at all/ or am just remembering the way it feels/ to be needed
- I said no, and I didn't second guess it. My voice was steady and there was no accompanying explanation. No, no, and... No, but... no, because... just no. Because it is complete unto itself, and I am allowed to choose myself.
- I am excited to close my eyes, then open them again with all of the wisdom I gained while I was sleeping.