Skip to main content

THIS DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU by Salyna Gracie

How do we decide what is worth saving?...

This summer, a forest fire raged around moving hungrily through the trees. My land, my house, my family, the place where all the memories of the life I had lived could be gone in a moment. In those vivid and frightful days I found myself unattached to all of the things we had decorated our lives with. The people, the moments we spent hugging and laughing and crying were all that truly mattered. These are the gifts that make it a Home.
Artwork: "This does not belong to you" (collage with wax on panel) by the author

This Does Not Belong To You

Ask yourself
As you stand there
In the pale grey air
Frozen to these four walls
Feet turned to stone
Decide!
What is worth saving?

Can you will your hands
To grab the memories
You carry only in your heart
Can you pack your boxes full
With the laughter that rings in your ears

The clouds taunt you
Hurry!
There is no time left
Three red flags declare your fate
The defiance of your feet
The moan caught in your throat
Your hands still empty



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 her artwork here. 


*For submission guidelines, click here
Labels:

Comments

  1. Maureen LancasterSeptember 17, 2023 at 7:05 AM

    such questions run through my mind...well versed, especially the last stanza :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IMAGINE A WOMAN by Patricia Lynn Reilly

  This poem invites you to look upon yourself with loving kindness… Gazing at your own true reflection, you will discover that everything you have longed for “out there” is already within you! I invite you to love your creativity fiercely. Faithfully plant seeds, allowing under-the-ground dormant seasons, nurturing your creative garden with love and gratitude. In the fullness of time, the green growing things thrust forth from the ground. It's a faithful, trustworthy process. AND it takes time and patience.  Blessed is the fruit of your creative womb! I invite you to trust your vision of the world and express it. With wonder and delight, paint a picture, create a dance, write a book, and make up a song. To give expression to your creative impulses is as natural as your breathing. Create in your own language, imagery, and movement. Follow no script. Do not be limited by the customary way things have been expressed. Your creative intuition is original. Gather
20 comments
Read more

THE JOURNEY by Mary Oliver

Today we honor Mary Oliver (1936-2019) and all the words she left behind. May they inspire you on your journey!  Excerpt from Mary Oliver’s book Long Life: Essays and Other Writings : "Poets must read and study... but, also, they must learn to tilt and whisper, shout, or dance, each in his or her own way, or we might just as well copy the old books. But, no, that would never do, for always the new self swimming around in the old world feels itself uniquely verbal.  And that is just the point: how the world, moist and bountiful, calls to each of us to make a new and serious response. That's the big question, the one the world throws at you every morning. 'Here you are, alive. Would you like to make a comment?'" The Journey By Mary Oliver  One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice-- though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug
2 comments
Read more

STILL I RISE by Maya Angelou

Six years ago, I had the privilege of listening to Maya Angelou speak live on the value of poetry at the University of Florida. I share these reflections with you again today, in honor of her birthday.  I was relieved to get one of the last seats available for this rare event, having arrived at five for Maya Angelou ’s free speech at eight. The historically long line began with people settled into beach chairs in winter coats busying themselves on tablets, or eating sandwiches for dinner. As helicopters hovered above and newscasters below, I felt the excitement of realizing that thousands of people were gathering together to hear an eighty four year old black woman recite her poetry! Maya Angelou speaking at University of Florida on Feb. 27, 2013  When the curtain rose -after an overflow of hundreds were sent away- we lucky ones on the inside greeted Maya with a standing ovation, as she smiled sweetly, beginning her talk using metaphors from nature. Maya asked that we
4 comments
Read more