I'm sorry to hear your wrist pain has flared up, Kaitlin, and hope with the adjustments you make, healing will be quick and complete.
Thank you for today's tender gift to your readers. I love this poem so much -- every. single. shimmering. word. I will return to the stanzas throughout the day(s) as I reflect on the reciprocity and the alchemy of care-giving/receiving.
Care
Continuing a reciprocal embrace
Comfort also requires empathy
Cast aside rancorous envy
Cultivating a resilient energy
Creates areas resembling emptiness
Craft amorous relationships everyday
Carefully avoid ruthless enmity
Consider attending rich experiences
This is wonderful Caitlin! I like the cadence and flow and the tenderness of your words! Thank you!
I am just really glad
it is god
who creates
this amazing
collection of systems
that is my body
with
love and
care and
love and
long haul endurance and
love in mind
and not the dumb ass cheapskates
that make the dishwasher
I have to throw out every 5 years.
This made me smile! :D
I'm sorry to hear your wrist pain has flared up, Kaitlin, and hope with the adjustments you make, healing will be quick and complete.
Thank you for today's tender gift to your readers. I love this poem so much -- every. single. shimmering. word. I will return to the stanzas throughout the day(s) as I reflect on the reciprocity and the alchemy of care-giving/receiving.
overflowing:
my hands warm
around the curves of
a mug full to the brim
with holy basil tea,
which by another name
is love, tasted in the way
this two-decades-in spouse
leaves me a drink on
every morning's counter.
Up first, he boils the kettle,
bleary eyed, fills two cups.
Later, we will ask after
each other's sleep,
a liturgy of middle age.
Later, I will make the bed,
tidy his pillows, perhaps
pick up his socks. Back
and forth, like two paddlers
in one canoe, facing
in the same direction, the
everyday, the commonplace give
and take, the almost invisible
unutterably tender
habits of shared care.
I love this.
Care
What does it mean to care?
to acknowledge you are important to me
to accept your well-being matters to me
How can I show you I care?
if I love to give hugs
but touch is just not your thing
and the gifts I choose may not be
quite what you had in mind
(although you probably never said...)
Why do we take time to care?
because through caring we show love
through caring we connect
and however imperfect the way we care
our caring means
both you and I
are a little less alone
Kaitlin, so sorry about your wrist. Sending blessings of healing. And a poem about caring...
.
CARE
Tender moments, with gentle words.
An embrace more than arms that circle.
It’s a generosity of the heart,
melting like a warm healing balm.
Flowing to hurt and sensitive places.
Traumas, wounds and sufferings.
A magical spell of kindness that
alchemizes a closed fist
to an open hand.
I love this. I had so much difficulty with this prompt, and I feel like this is the sort of poem I hope I can write about care in another 10-20 years.
Thanks Meghan! 💓
Oh, I love this….There is hope shimmering in the places we least expect. I will carry this with me today!
Instructions for Care: Nervous System Overdrive Edition.
1. Breathe. Again. Now, with your whole body. Repeat as needed.
2. Feel the fraying edges of you,
let them have their say.
3. Then tuck them in
with a story
and a glass of water.
4. Speak to yourself in a soothing tone,
As you would a frightened puppy.
5. Drink something warm.
6. Stretch.
7. Go outside.
8. Thank your body
for carrying your life.
9. Thank the earth.
10. Thank the sky.
11. Breathe.
I am holding this poem against my heart. Thank you.
Meghan, this is lovely! You don't need 10-20 years. It's all right here. I love, tucking in the fraying edges!
Incredible, thank you
All my brains
are falling out my ears
and dripping into the glass labeled "Work."
I have none left over to write,
to sing.
I have none left over to fit together the pieces of how I'm feeling.
I can't go on like this.
I have to place another glass there
and shake in some of that precious grey matter
and say, "You, creativity, matter.
You, those things that make me happy, matter.
You matter,"
and I have to hold myself together in these wobbling glasses
and try very hard not to shatter.
Hugs. A beautiful poem about a very hard thing. I've been there. You captured the feeling perfectly. Sending warm, comforting thoughts.
Thanks so much! ❤️
Oh Kaitlin, thank you for this beautiful prompt and poem. Healing prayers for you and your wrist!