This is a remarkable poem, Kaitlin. Each line opens my heart and mind and stirs me, then I read the next and the next, swimming in thought and possibility. “Culture is power, and power can be used to harm or to heal.” Oh my, how true and how real. Thank you for creating and holding this remarkable peace for us to read, share and be.
Thank you for this pondering, powerful blessing. “What if we all had” been raised in caring conditions -- oof, it hits hard! Poignant and provocative. I don’t have a poem for today (caught up on yesterday’s) but grateful for folks here and this thoughtful little online community
I think a lot of us had similar thoughts on the word culture as it applies to the current environment. I don’t love it because I feel very negative. But maybe I’ll get it out of my system for the evening.
“I want to create and sustain a culture of tenderness in this painful world.”
Yes, this♥️ Thank you for sharing.
This happened today, in Florida.
In the passenger seat of our minivan
Heading north, heading home
I hear the talk radio and leave it on: for a dose of local culture.
Wait, what did he say? "You wanna talk about criminal justice reform?
Justice is needed
For the four Minneapolis cops serving time for murdering
George Floyd."
I won't say their names. I turned the station before I heard any more.
Before I saw the Confederate flag on the tailgate ahead.
.careful.
culture
corkscrews
into cult
when
childish
clueless
cold-hearted, close-minded,
cocky, crude, cowardly,
confirmed crazy,
covetous and corrupt captains
creep and claw into command.
don't be stupid.
There is incredible beauty in cultural traditions,
those of myth, art, dance, craft and song.
Legendary adventures retold of times long ago.
Folk tales whose moral endings are potent truisms that touch the soul.
Oral wisdoms shared speaking of magical confluences with life.
Celebratory festivals relived as community, music and laughter.
Reminding us of the significance nature has in our lives.
.
Nowadays the main stories are of misinformation, lies told by the elite.
Propagandas disseminated to sustain, perpetuate and control.
Our words end up sterilized, censorship as the acts of this time.
An ongoing pressure to conform to their perpetual hunger for wealth.
.
But for me…
I will keep listening to these mythic fables, gleaming their insightful acumen.
I will continue watching nature’s cycles, seeing them as my own.
I will carry on creating art, writing my own stories as long as my hands will let me.
And I will still speak from the heart, true words of justice, integrity and care.
.
The so called privileged and hierarchical structures are not toppled from above.
But by breaking through the foundation with composts composed of cultural gifts.
Culture
The culture in which we exist
is the product of what we have grown
and nurtured in the lab,
tended and shaped by what it has been fed.
Thus, this culture of hate and fear,
germinated in the test tubes far too long.
Spilling out uncontrolled by its creators.
this culture of exclusion and oppression
borne from centuries of turning away
from the quiet truth lying by the trailside.
Standing in this winter garden,
fog replacing sunlight
drizzle where snow should be,
I ponder what I am growing.
and want to harvest.
A culture of hope and harmony,
Freedom and forgiveness,
Emptying and equity,
Justice and joy,
Love and light,
Your hand in mine.
Every heart, finding home.
I know it’s not too late,
It’s time.
Here, now, forevermore.
I haven’t had time to write today but just wanted to pop and say you are close to my neck of the woods! I’m in the central part of Arkansas.
In my home,
I want to create
a culture of caring
for ourselves,
for others,
for the earth.
I want to create
a place for the homes
of our bodies
to come to rest,
to feel at peace.
I want to create
a sense of belonging
that invites us in,
that invites us inward.
This is a remarkable poem, Kaitlin. Each line opens my heart and mind and stirs me, then I read the next and the next, swimming in thought and possibility. “Culture is power, and power can be used to harm or to heal.” Oh my, how true and how real. Thank you for creating and holding this remarkable peace for us to read, share and be.
Thank you for this pondering, powerful blessing. “What if we all had” been raised in caring conditions -- oof, it hits hard! Poignant and provocative. I don’t have a poem for today (caught up on yesterday’s) but grateful for folks here and this thoughtful little online community
I think a lot of us had similar thoughts on the word culture as it applies to the current environment. I don’t love it because I feel very negative. But maybe I’ll get it out of my system for the evening.
The Curators
A culture of division.
A culture of derision.
Of mockery and insults.
Of disregard for humanity.
A culture such as this
Is not merely created.
It is curated.
By those who profit from the vitriol.
-Karri Temple Brackett
December 27, 2023
Oh I love that first definition, I've never quite heard it phrased that way somehow. And these photos are amazing.