World-making
From the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to global warming, from the fires of war to the daily grind of work that withers your heart, our world is erupting with crises right now. And crises, times of great upheavals, offer opportunities for growth and transformation....
No. Yes.
SUNDAY POEM NO. YES. What gives you the right to grab what is not yours to take? You have grown large on piracy, swollen like a balloon on breath stolen from children who no longer sleep or fill their lungs because you have convinced them the air belongs to you; their...
Flight to Freedom
FLIGHT TO FREEDOM My ancestors launched into the Arabian Sea in tiny coracles fragile as leaves to escape the jihad. Their country torched by Arab invaders, their people slaughtered in the name of Allah, they entrusted their bodies to the tides, sailed east to India;...
Who or what calls your name?
Your calling arises from the whole of yourself...from your gifts and talents, your love, your sense of rightness, from that which brings you joy. In a spirit of exploration and curiosity, take look at your life as it is right now. What brings you a feeling of...
Who’s wearing your crown?
Continuing our series of questions about Sovereignty, here's one from Amna Ahmad, of The Pragmatic Hybrid: What do you suggest when someone is not at all sure of her grounds to assert her sovereignty? Like when the opposing forces are trying to trump her ace with the...
Tenaramente
TENARAMENTE I stand at the boundary. On this side, familiar terrain. Hills like lyric waves brushed with sage, dew an aria on my tongue, golden wedge of light on my elbow. My arms know precisely my baby's milky weight, his warm mouth loose against my breast, my nipple...
Can you wear your crown when you’re ill or in pain?
Continuing this series of questions about sovereignty, here's a question from Rebecca Leigh of Smart Fresh Writing, about how to stay sovereign when you're dealing with a chronic illness. My question relates to sovereignty and physical ill-health / incapacity. On one...
Ask a Sovereign Question…
This post features a question that's been asked of me lately, by Sarah, who very kindly gave me permission to share it with you: What can you do when you get into a situation -- particularly in a relationship -- in which you have set a precedent of disrespecting your...
Elegy
SUNDAY POEM ELEGY When I bend and bind squeeze my soul into narrow shoes, deck it out in gaudy hues of other people's clothing; when I alter my inherent shape, strut through attenuated alleyways of dialectic, I lose you, crumble. I know you are in me but I cannot...
A Capella
A CAPELLA My life is bread-making. Daily I work the dough. My hands blend, shape it into supple balls and then I wait for your sacrament of warm brown flour, sea-salt water, a sprinkled benediction, to expand in me, dissolving this mass becoming a fine leavening....