Metamorphosis by Shae Detar. This week I thought I'd do something different by sharing a poem that I wrote just over a year ago. I originally wrote it about a lover, but interestingly, when I read it to my mother, she thought I had written it about the various aspects of myself. As a personal manifesto, this poem speaks to me of the rich "emodiversity" we can cultivate when we allow all parts of ourselves to come to the party. It's called, Bring all of yourself... I am the depths of a still lake. Dive into your reflection, my love. Bring all of yourself. Bring your summer, your autumn, your winter and your spring. Bring your dew drops and your milk thistles. Your nightingale and your crow, your pigeon and your wren. Bring all of yourself. Bathe my soul in your sunlight and soak my soil with your afternoon storms. Hold me dear in your canyons and envelope me in your star-filled skies. Bring all of yourself. Bring your lone tiger and your family of wolves. Bring your army of ants and your blossoming peace lilies. Your caverns and your savannahs, your tides and your mountains. Bring all of yourself. Shed your skin and leave it with me for safekeeping, buried deep in my womb. Guide me though your jungles and lead me through your deserts to the hidden oases. Bring all of yourself. I will meet you there, under the shade of that tree, with open eyes, open arms, open legs and an open heart. I will bring all of myself and I will walk with you. Lead the way, my darling, and I will nurture our most wild and tender truths. Cosmos by Tamara Dean. I've had a very trying few weeks, and am currently swimming in what feels like a sea of deep confusion and endless questions about my identity. What's underneath all of the self-governing expectations and societal assumptions? How do we navigate the sometimes conflicting needs of our rational self and our animal self? Who are we, really, when we start stripping away old stories and obsolete ways of being? A lot of the questions I've been exploring are mired in a mix of guilt, shame and fear. I am beginning to address some aspects of myself that, for the most part, I've continually suppressed. We are human. We are both ordinary and extraordinary. We need, we bleed, we do wrong and we stumble. We get dirty, we get angry and we repeat patterns we know aren't good for us. But we also love and make love. We have the capacity to imagine, to grow new shoots, to learn and to change. All of this is okay, because it's part of our nature. Sometimes there will be more questions than answers. Follow their trails, and when you encounter the strange and sometimes grotesque creatures that live in the dark woods, approach them with curiosity and kindness. Pick them up with care and welcome them back to your home, for they are in need of your love just as much as the wildflowers. Still from the film Girl Asleep. + + Want to read more? Sign up to my fortnightly newsletter here for extra musings.
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