Whoooosh
The sky is threaded through with a fine layer of spider web clouds
all pointing in the same direction
whoooosh
in the distance cows moo
I stoop to pick up a magpie feather
Magpie friends
Crow friends
Bird friends
I am warm in front
cold behind
breath collecting in my throat released in an urgent tumble of words.
Questioning belonging.
Heavy walking, heavy gait… weighed down.
The babbling brook brings lightness
sunshine breaks through the clouds
a dragonfly skims the water dancing in the light.
Click, clang, squeak through the gate
Ash tree awaits
full glory
green vast, alive, expanding
Ash tree,
Ash tee, tee, tee
I stand underneath the arch of 2 adjoining lightening trees
between 2 pathways of water.
Permission granted I step into the clearing
The ground is soft as I carefully place my feet
the twigs are dry and brittle
Sit
Wait
Pushing against the sky
swimming upwards head first, arms tight by my side
as I reach high, I emerge above the trees spread my arms and fly
whooooooooshhhhhh
Space
Retrace steps.
The sun is behind me
I walk before me
The sun is behind me
I walk before me
now shadow for company.
Cultivating the Diviner ran alongside another project that I had signed up for last January— ‘Finding Our Way Home’. We meet once a month in a large group on Zoom, and twice a month in smaller triads. One course bled into the other, so the territory I’ve been walking and mapping over the past year has been, and continues to be, about negotiating belonging.
New creative work emerged from this pathway, from the teachings, holding and exercises of Cultivating the Diviner. Beyond an expanding archive of sound recordings, videos, dreams and photographs, a book of words and images emerged: ‘Flesh, Skin + Bone’, and a series of new sculptures. While the fairy tale, ‘The Handless Maiden’ took hold somewhere along the way.
That said, I’m not sure about these words in a public space. I would never call these words poetry, perhaps a reading, or a conversation. They are intimate as if I’m relaying something private, and taken out of context they come across as a little self-conscious.
Because of my hesitancy, I’m going to leave it up to you all to decide.