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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