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Posts Tagged ‘safety’

Blessing for Those Who Are Willing to Be Vulnerable

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on June 8, 2026| 2 Comments »


                  with gratefulness for all the bees
 
 
When you are soft, when you lay bare
your innerness and unfold your layers
for the world like a voluptuous, purpling
O’Keefe iris, it is true, there will be some 
so threatened by your opening they will attack, 
will sow fear and hatred into the warm field
of the gentle night. When it happens, may you 
be surprised by how others rise to protect you
like a humming, swarming swirl of bees 
that baptize the air with a wild and fierce 
aliveness, a rousing acrobatic vocalizing 
that shields you from that which would trample 
you or cut you down. May you be astonished
by the power of the hive as they surround you. 
Even as fear ripples through you, may you 
be so enthralled by the buzz of their joy 
that you don’t snap shut like a fist, like a trap.
And in honor of the gift you’ve received,
the gift of belonging, may you stay open. 
May you be so stunned with gratefulness 
that every word that falls from your mouth 
tastes of truth, raw praise and dark, secret honey.
 

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What the Heart Knows

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on May 11, 2026| 25 Comments »

In every moment, there is a car 
 and an infinite hill and the chance 
  you will roll down that hill. With no brakes.
   Backwards. When grief first yanked me
    into its old beater, I was too stunned
     to try to stop gravity from doing what 
      gravity does. Mostly, these days, 
I forget what can happen. Mostly, 
 there’s a rope attached to the car
  that keeps it from careening, a rope 
   made of friendship, of family, 
    of trust in the self that has grown over time. 
     The rope is a lovely illusion.
      Sometimes I fool myself into believing
       that the stability I feel is because 
the brakes are fixed and I’ve become 
 better at parking, even in the steepest zones. 
  I fool myself into thinking the rope can’t be cut.  
   That is why, perhaps, it’s so surprising
    when I feel the lurch, my stomach rising
     into my chest. So surprising to see loss 
      is sitting in the driver’s seat looking  
       at me with its uncompromising gaze
        as if to say, No, sweetheart, 
 that seatbelt won’t do you any good. 
 If you pray, now’s a good time for that—
  but don’t bother to pray for the car 
   to stop. Pray to be able to laugh 
    as we speed down the hill. 
     Pray that as the world blurs by,
      while terror squeezes your throat
       what is most alive in you also notices 
        how radiant the sunset, how briefly 
it shines, that tender pink. 

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For When the Fall Feels Inevitable

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 25, 2025| 6 Comments »




The             space
between        this
moment        and
the                next
stretches        like
a         tightrope—
let                    my
love                  for
you                   be
not                  net,
but                          wings.

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Perhaps Next Time

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 20, 2020| 2 Comments »

 

 

Vast and powerful,

the invitation

like a sea

with a surf

and unknowable tides—

 

I do not want to stay

on the shores

of my life.

I want to run headlong

into the waves,

to feel myself buoyed

and challenged,

to know myself

as one who risks,

who emerges

shimmering.

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Morning Stroll

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on May 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »

 

 

 

When you walk along a cliff

and look over the edge,

a bit of the cliff will find its way

into your thoughts

 

and there, that place where

you were feeling quite safe

just a moment ago, now feels

charged with exposure.

 

Just today, a cliff said to me

that if I only would jump

then perhaps I would find my wings,

or perhaps then a tender angel

 

would deliver me—

you will never know,

said the cliff, if you keep walking

in that same direction you always walk—

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Matter of Time

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on December 29, 2014| 2 Comments »

In the boat
how could she know,
fixed as she was
upon the waves,
about the leakage,
small and slow
and of the sharks
that swam below—
she had hungers,
too, and so
toward distant shores
she rowed, she rowed
not noticing
the water cold
around her feet
and how it rose
I think about
her bailing.

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Tucking My Daughter into Bed We Discuss Contingencies

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on December 24, 2014| 3 Comments »

In the dark
she says, but what if
the fire alarm goes off?
and I say, it won’t
and she says, but what if
and I say, shhhh, it’s
time to sleep and she says,
but what if the alarm
goes off? and I say
then I will carry you
outside to my car
and you will be safe
and she says
thank you and rolls
over, and I lie awake,
holding her in the silence
long after her breathing
has steadied into sleep,
our bodies curled into
each other like two
question marks.

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