Day 31: mach

a poem a day in the month of may

Friends,

We’ve made it, a whole month of poetry behind us.

Thank you, again for being here.

What did you notice?

What was your favorite poem to read or write?

What prompt really stands out to you?

Will you invest in poetry as a spiritual practice from here?

Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash

Today’s word is a special one, and I am excited to share it with you. It’s the Gaelic word mach, which means “to go” or “to go outside” or “go forth.”

I think that’s a perfect way to end this month, this month of going inward and asking how we can hold quiet in the chaos, how we can maintain a sense of grounding when the world is in so much disarray.

Mach calls us forth.

Mach shows up to us and says “you’ve been in this cocoon of thought and care for long enough, now go.”

It is a tender beckoning, a steady call.

We’ve been in the quiet, but the world waits. What does it wait for?

I’ll share these incredible words from Clarissa Pinkola Estes that guide me every single day of my life, and then I’ll share my poem with you.

From the article titled Do Not Lose Heart, We Were Made for These Times:

It is hard to say which one of the current egregious matters has rocked people’s worlds and beliefs more. Ours is a time of almost daily jaw-dropping astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

…You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking.

Yet … I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is – we were made for these times.

Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement. I cannot tell you often enough that we are definitely the leaders we have been waiting for, and that we have been raised, since childhood, for this time precisely.

…I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able crafts in the waters than there are right now across the world. And they are fully provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the history of humankind.

I would like to take your hands for a moment and assure you that you are built well for these times. Despite your stints of doubt, your frustrations in arighting all that needs change right now, or even feeling you have lost the map entirely, you are not without resource, you are not alone.

Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of righteous souls on the waters with you. In your deepest bones, you have always known this is so.

We are not alone. We are built for these times, for this quiet, for the waiting world.

A mach!

A mach,
go, stretch
your arms
and your heart
past the 
limits you’ve
placed on
yourself,
the ones that
have been so 
necessary but
whose time has
come to and end.

Leave this 
quiet room and
step outside
again, enter
the world and
remember what
it means to 
encounter every
being as your kin.

A mach, 
go forth,
with a burning
in your bones
and a light in
your eyes,
the fire having
been tended all
these quiet 
days, as you
rested, gently,
in the darkness.

Go forth,
outside, to
tend to the wild 
places that
are waiting, to 
meet others who
long to meet you,
to gather in the
sacred corners of
this sacred planet
and ask for a better
way forward.

Mach,
mach,
together,
forward,
outward,
onward,
from the 
home within 
you to
the home
waiting in
everyone
you're soon
to meet.

Reminder: we have two poetry readings/celebrations this weekend/next week!

June 1st, 1pm-2:15ish ET

June 3rd, 7pm-8:15ish ET

The links for each meeting are below. Please choose one to attend, as meetings are capped at 100 participants.

Bring a poem to read if you’d like—it can be one from our month together, or if you have another, you can share that one instead.

You can also come and just share about the experience of reading or writing poetry. All are welcome! See you there!

June 1st meeting:

Join here

Meeting ID: 859 9362 3096

Passcode: 461125

June 3rd meeting:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81390139881?pwd=LLZsAwyqFl3TGj4T9xaRqTcjxaC2Gu.1

Meeting ID: 813 9013 9881

Passcode: 363248