I like this very much Steven. Your professor was indeed wise--beloved communities know how to grieve, and to allow us to grieve. My time in seminary there were monents where the beloved community seemed so present, and times in the churches I have served, the campus communities I have been a part of, the micro communities created in larger contexts, opportunities to see our kindreds in all their complexity and completeness. It takes a lot of real work! And a load of love.
This is a superb poem. The way you weave through kindship as beauitful and blessed even as it can be complicated, complex and confounding is the visoion of the owl. You are a true weaver with words.
Thank you very much for perceiving all these layers, Larry. This was a very powerful poem and experience to work through personally, and I’m glad to be able to share it in such a way here.
Such powerful word-work, this. Thank you! For each line & the invitational reminder that WORDS belong to us even as we belong to them. How important it is to explore that very conversation. I think of James Baldwin’s rumination about “the world’s definitions” and David Whyte’s work with words he selected. Thank you - for YOUR leadership on the poetic page!
Perhaps the sails we fill with our pledges,
our pleas to one another, our “will you
help me?” and “I am here for you”-
we could collect the wind
out of our collective lungs, expanding
continents, and propel our (kin)ship
against choppy waters, push us through currents.
Somewhere
Across the world from me
They say Ubuntu
“I am because we are”
And I can’t help but cry
The beauty
The pain
The interconnectedness
That flows through these words
Strikes me anew
Every time I ponder it
I long for community
With organic tendencies
That replenish the earth
And each other
That raise babies
As well as parents
That share the burden
And the delight
We’ve made it so hard to find
And so seek I must
I long for that community, too.
But who are my kin?
Does connection need blood?
And what if I choose?
the light within me
honours - sees, holds, celebrates -
the light within you
Kinship
I remember in seminary
everyone sought the
beloved community
of Dr. King
misguided administrators,
faculty, staff,
and students
claimed the seminary
as such a community
But a wise professor
told us in class
that we were
NOT such a community
"You don't know what grieves me"
was the reason
kinship is
knowing what grieves another
caring and support
even if that is
sitting in silence together
a shoulder to cry on
a hand to hold
or a shared hug
knowing each other's pain
sharing in vulnerability
resisting oppression together
and most assuredly more
then we are enter into
kinship together
then
hearing the cries
from nature
as land is devastated
stripped of resources
and wildlife populations
near extinction
all for economic gain
we dream large
and care for creation
stopping the violence done to it
listening to the voices
of nature speaking
God's calling
we expand the kinship
into a kin-dom of God
Taking the g out of kingdom puts a whole new warm on it. Nice.
I like this very much Steven. Your professor was indeed wise--beloved communities know how to grieve, and to allow us to grieve. My time in seminary there were monents where the beloved community seemed so present, and times in the churches I have served, the campus communities I have been a part of, the micro communities created in larger contexts, opportunities to see our kindreds in all their complexity and completeness. It takes a lot of real work! And a load of love.
Amen
kinship with the soil
everything that lives through it
connected being
Kinship
There’s deep healing in
Kinship
For the sake of kinship
For some, we must be intentional to walk the path
For some, we must be deliberate with every word
For some, we must be active in our trust
Sometimes, the thought of kinship is a
Bitter medicine, a
Placed-upon-us, a
How-will-I-ever.
But also for those very ones of us,
Kinship is a lifetime of leading,
Of being precious and clear to the
Who-am-I, to the
What-do-I-need, to the
Who-do-I-love, to the
Why.
Just like everything else in love,
Learning the lean of our love
Is an opportunity, another
Pit stop to shed a layer, to evolve
From Charmander to Charizard,
To fly and match our fire.
Kinship is, sometimes, a
Bitter medicine, but we take it
To serve us.
We take that medicine to course-correct
Our band of angels that
Came so deliberately to our
Earth as a tribe.
.
Also adding the post I created for this poem that includes commentary on a few important thoughts for this subject: https://jillianjoy.substack.com/p/day-12-kinship?sd=pf
Powerful today. Blessings, all <3
Bitter medicine, yes. So powerful.
Thank you very much, April 💗
This is a superb poem. The way you weave through kindship as beauitful and blessed even as it can be complicated, complex and confounding is the visoion of the owl. You are a true weaver with words.
Thank you very much for perceiving all these layers, Larry. This was a very powerful poem and experience to work through personally, and I’m glad to be able to share it in such a way here.
kinship..... I see you and you see me.
for so long I felt untethered
relationally,
an ancestral mix of assimilation,
until you
talked to every ant, spider, beetle
in your hushed toddler voice
telling them you would keep
them safe from harm --
"they're family."
you knew kinship
with all our relations
long before I learned
you were right
all along.
Beautiful
This is beautiful April. We all need to put oucr hild eyes on as we see with our hearts.
"Hey buddy,"
I say to the carpenter bee
and the baby bunny.
"Hey buddy,"
I greet the pair of kestrels and the
blue-gray gnatcatcher.
"Hey buddy,"
I croon to the comfrey and the columbine,
and the spider who lives in my laundry room.
"Take a rest, and welcome."
Kindred Spirits
Kinship...next of kin....family....relations
Whether biology or by choice
The people who support and sustain us
Are our kinfolk.
With you I share a bloodline
And with you a common interest
But we are connected in some way
Kindred spirits in a discordant world.
Karri Temple Brackett
May 12, 2023
https://themarvelousandthemundane.com/2023/05/12/kindred-spirits/
Kinship
Kindred
Kindom
Kin
All our relations.
Our communities,
spirit siblings,
families of choice and connection
partners in passion and provocation;
The beings, organisms and particles of earth,
the elements of the universe,
all that is, was and will be.
The adversaries that cannot
see our beauty.
Kindreds.
Connection seen and unseen,
belonging within and without;
Full moon shine over open water,
curtain rising Sunrise from Cadillac Mountain,
early morning mystery fog on Whitetop,
dawn greeting surfer on symphonic ocean,
Your eyes looking into mine.
Beauty abounds.
In this life,
and the lifetimes to come,
may our connections be beautiful and strong.
Kin
Kindon
Kindred
Kinship…
Ase!
Love your inclusion of kindred.
Thank you very much April!
a drunk, broke-back window fall.
in virginia.
Couples with a sibling's
'what the fuck was that'.
in hawaii.
kinship.
Kinship
As I eat my egg,
I’m reminded to be thankful.
Thankful for the egg,
but also for the chicken
and the farmer
who raised the chicken
and the people who made her feed
and for the grubs in the farmyard soil
and for the sun and the fresh air
that helped her to grow
and the market which
made it possible for me
to enjoy her gift.
How amazing
this relationship,
a sacred kinship,
that I experience
just eating an egg.
This is wonderfully woven Trish, a beautiful winding journey of connection and kinship.
Beautiful. I love how your exploration of kinship is an exploration of love🙏🥰
Such powerful word-work, this. Thank you! For each line & the invitational reminder that WORDS belong to us even as we belong to them. How important it is to explore that very conversation. I think of James Baldwin’s rumination about “the world’s definitions” and David Whyte’s work with words he selected. Thank you - for YOUR leadership on the poetic page!