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?
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:
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
Go forth, little one.
It is never and always
the right time. Go forth
I'm always surprised by how quickly this month passes, even though many of the days feel longer. Writing every day and sharing with you all is such a sacred practice for me, and I'm so grateful for this space. Thank you for continuing to create/hold it for us, Kaitlin.