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LEARNING TO BREATHE by Salyna Gracie

 It is often the simple things that bring forward the most powerful feelings...

of what it means to be alive. To witness the gratitude of everyday gestures. To take notice of the fleeting glance or the majesty of wings pressed to blue summer sky. All experiences that bring us into this moment. This breath. This life we call our own.
Art Collage 'Everything is Soul and Flowering' by Salyna Gracie

Learning to Breathe

Late afternoon sun, burnishes
Pale, bare shoulders
Still heat rings with
Meadowlark song

Swelling waters rush under
Sun-dog spotted skies
Saskatoons unabashedly bloom amidst
Sweeping Swallows dinner call

One sweet snout peeks above bitter-brush
And Queen Anne's lace
This one nibbles forbidden treats proving
The futility of fences
That one, with a certain gap where one
Precious ear was no longer crowned

Almost summer, on a day like any other
Following a quiet path to
No place in particular, everything
Leading the way home
Photography by Yuko Ishii 



Salyna Gracie is the director of Red Lotus Dance Company. She performs and teaches Middle Eastern Dance and facilitates the Red Lotus SEEDs program which mentors teen girls through dance at her studio in a small rural town in Washington state. Salyna’s dancing reflects a commitment to personal growth by internalizing rhythms and expressing emotion through the body – dancing from the heart. Poetry and visual art continue the conversation of dance with words and images that dance on the page. You may contact her through her website here and herartwork here



~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~ 

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