Almost everyone wants to be a leader. Far fewer want to be a follower. “Free to Follow” comes to mind. Ha! I did not have Luke (or anything or anyone except me) in mind when I wrote my response to the prompt. I just upgraded to “paid subscriber” to the Liminality Journal. I am free to upgrade from free to paid. I am free to “follow” Kaitlin as well. Peace to you, Chuck.
I hear you Nancy! The first year I just read and never commented or offered a poem. I got over myself and jumped in the next year. I have discovered some incredible poets, and even more essentially, some exceptional people through these. I truly enjoy your poetry, Nancy!
This is so touching, tender and bittersweet, Margaret. The empathy you demonstrate is remarkable, and my sense is that is part of what makes you such a fine Poet. Your feelings resonate with me, as I have often been in that place, of helping and advocating but still insulated somewhat by my privilege. I pray that we all will be free together, and young hearts line those you write of are free, at last, soon.
Thank you, Larry. The experience of watching the faces last night of those responding to this young refugee from Afghanistan now in Pakistan was very powerful.
Kaitlin, I can't figure out whether you are lurking behind my shoulder and offering words that are matching my experience each day - or whether your words are wondrously illuminating exactly what needs to surface each morning. Thank you for your beautiful poems each morning, your haikus today, and the inspiration of this practice.
I never want to be free
From gravity.
Spare me the reality
Of dropped keys
Falling endlessly up.
I never want to be free
From the responsibility
That comes with freedom.
When I find a key
To what confines me,
I seek the release
Of prisoners like me.
Once I am free FROM…
I become free TO…
To those to whom
Much is given,
Much is asked.
Free, to me,
Is a group activity.
May my freedom be
Of useful service to yours.
Oh my goodness. Yes. particularly the very first line broke my heart..
Free is group activity - what a wonderful concept Dwight!
Your wish last lines are following me.
(I hear some luke 12:48 in there?)
Almost everyone wants to be a leader. Far fewer want to be a follower. “Free to Follow” comes to mind. Ha! I did not have Luke (or anything or anyone except me) in mind when I wrote my response to the prompt. I just upgraded to “paid subscriber” to the Liminality Journal. I am free to upgrade from free to paid. I am free to “follow” Kaitlin as well. Peace to you, Chuck.
Welcome, dwight
Kaitlin’s substack is one of the most essential parts and pieces of my week.
This is very nice, Dwight. I enjoy your thoughtful poems and perspectives!
DWIGHTLEEWOLTER.Substack.com
Take a breath, pause
The choice is yours
To say yes or no
To walk in the other direction
To quit
Search for who you are
Meant to be, and find
A love that loves you for you
Respects the boundaries
You have the right to place
Wherever, whenever.
You are not to blame
For the hurt inflicted
When you were too young
To know it was hurt
You have never been alone
Another world awaits your
Letting go, so go ahead,
Slip the bonds, jump
The fall cannot hurt you
It will teach you how to fly.
Quitting something in favour of yourself - yes! I was just musing on this idea over on Liz Gilbert's Substack Letters From Love yesterday 💜
Rachel, soooooo goooood. Thank you
This is beautiful, Rachel. Your lovely poem finds me in a tender place today, and it is helpful. Thank you.
it lives in the sediment
of your singular cells,
in the interstitial brilliance
between each spectacular grain of sand,
between each toe of the dreaming wood rat,
between your teeth, your vertebrae,
and each passing thought that forms the semblance
of an unbroken chain.
all members of an ecosystem know
how to hold each other together,
that in the open space between each link
gleams the origin of aliveness,
radiant and free
all members of an ecosystem know
that by holding each other together
we preserve that interstitial whirling wildness:
our bodies know
that the intersection of all life
is mutual liberation.
So many beautiful lines here - I'm going to be turning over "the sediment of your singular cells" and I weed in the greenhouse
happy weeding!!!
Love thinking about the tiny gaps between a dreaming wood rat's toes 😍 Thank you kate 💜
I’m truthfully obsessed with animal toes to the point that they make their way into 90% of my poems 🤣 I’m so glad you like their toes too 🐭
Animal toes are one of the greatest gifts we have on this planet!! 😍
This is so beautiful, Kate.
thank you dear one 💔
So beautifully said, Kate. Your poem reminds me on the notion of “all our relations” and right relationship.
I am so grateful to know you hear that message coming through
Funny how structure
Can set you free: heart temple
Cathedral of lungs
*
Pumping and breathing
My body dancing along
With the wild green Earth
***
Inspired by Kaitlin's double haiku today 🌊
Cathedral of lungs 🥹🦋
Cathedral of lungs 😍 (I just parked up by an old Abbey ... Abbey of Insight!)
Exceptional, Katie! heart temple/cathedral of king. Magical and brilliant!
To step into my day without my armor
To smile at a passerby without worry they might “misunderstand”this as an invitation to assault me
To have coffee with the last person who lived on the streets. Today we celebrate their new home
To tenderly place patriarchy and his ism offspring into a sturdy pine box and cover it with the dirt of our ancestors
Freedom.
I hope to attend the ceremony laid out in your last stanza.
What a beautiful heart song and poem, Trish! I agree with Sarah, I want to be there for that ceremony, long past due.
What is freedom
if you are
never free.
Free of the horrors
of war,
Free of sick and
twisted politicians,
Free of the burdens
of expectations,
Free of the darkness
in one’s soul.
Until we renounce
evil,
we will never
be free.
Thank you Nancy, for such a thoughtful and poignant poem. Your poem and Kaitlin’s prompt form such interesting companion perspectives for me.
I love poetry... when other's write it.
I twisted in the wind in high school English poetry units.
I have never attempted to write poetry as an adult.
But Kaitlin and her Liminality Journal May challenge... challenged me to at least try.
Larry, Thank you for your comments.
I hear you Nancy! The first year I just read and never commented or offered a poem. I got over myself and jumped in the next year. I have discovered some incredible poets, and even more essentially, some exceptional people through these. I truly enjoy your poetry, Nancy!
Free
Fathers have two tasks
Prepare their children for life
When prepared free them
Nice, Joe! Or sometimes, even when they are not completely prepared!
to what does it mean
to be free of my chains
when others are bound
this haunting and tender koan..
Thank you. I love the freedom in breath haiku especially - so helpful a reminder.
I seek to be free,
and yet I find my freedom
connected to the people
around me.
Free as a bird
Free of all that holds me
And moulds me.
Free to be me
And to sing my song.
Very nice, Claire! Please keep singing!
Thirteen Freedoms – A Declaration
Free to live
Free to love
Free to laugh
Free to speak
Free to sing
Free to pray
Free to think
Free to grow
Free to become
Free from want
Free from fear
Free from oppression
Free to pursue life, liberty and happiness
Amen, Karen! Rave on!
Three haikus for a free day
Free
Kai defends the goal,
Magnolia does a hat trick
Kids play soccer, free
Pastors say free will
I struggle with will or free
Joyful dog my guide.
Flowers bloom, long wait
Birds sing their sweet ancient tune
Spring is here, I’m free
The faces in the zoom rectangles
Were all shades of shame
When you spoke of your plight
Last night
Shame for our own freedom
When yours is so fragile,
That there was salmon on my rice
Last night
When your three meals were only undergirding for my food.
I was free to study things like periphrastics
To my delight
When simple sums and poems are illegal
For your friends and you.
Seventeen
With a big, bold dream
Of simple freedom
To conjugate a verb
Or write of lavender and lemons
To step into the world created by your pen
Where we are free together.
This is so touching, tender and bittersweet, Margaret. The empathy you demonstrate is remarkable, and my sense is that is part of what makes you such a fine Poet. Your feelings resonate with me, as I have often been in that place, of helping and advocating but still insulated somewhat by my privilege. I pray that we all will be free together, and young hearts line those you write of are free, at last, soon.
Thank you, Larry. The experience of watching the faces last night of those responding to this young refugee from Afghanistan now in Pakistan was very powerful.
I can imagine. Thank you for being a listener and a supporter. 🙏🏻
Kaitlin! An ocean wave breathing into its own soul - ❤️✨ thank you for these words and images
Kaitlin, I can't figure out whether you are lurking behind my shoulder and offering words that are matching my experience each day - or whether your words are wondrously illuminating exactly what needs to surface each morning. Thank you for your beautiful poems each morning, your haikus today, and the inspiration of this practice.
This has literally started happening to me too with these prompts 👀
I echo this, Margaret!
I want to be free
Of my own expectations
Of myself. Of others.
💔 the glistening expanse in this
Amen, Jane! May it ever be so!