DRAWING MYSELF OUT by Shannon K. Lockhart

I have found, when my feelings run too deep for words, that I meditate best in images... 

I tried traditional meditation, but I live with chronic pain and sitting still is often difficult. So, part of my daily practice over the last few years has developed into creating a space of silence and clearing the air with incense. I consciously choose a piece of paper and the first colored pastel to mark on it. The only "rule" I impose is that I let everything else unfold without judgement or plan. I never know what will appear, or whether it will be a simple image or an image with words. More and more, I have found that I channel messages for others, not just for myself. 

If only it were so easy to hold a similar space of non-judgement in everyday life, but this is about practice, over and over....opening up, letting things surface and then releasing them. 

Original artwork by the author, Shannon K. Lockhart

drawing myself out

 by Shannon K. Lockhart

even when the darkness wraps

itself around my soul

in inky black

when i close my eyes

and lean into it,

i let that cold 

take my breathe away

then somehow i reach in

and find just one more 

sigh

one more bit of air

and i channel that gasp, 

the spark,

grab a color

and make lines

i let the music of the pigments

carry me away

my hands take over

and they bring the warmth back

they find the light again

they know what needs

to be brought out 

on paper

Original artwork by the author

Shannon K. Lockhart is a social worker, human rights activist, and teacher who has recently embarked on her newest journey as an artist and poet. She is a native Louisvillian, but has spent most of her adult life living in Chicago and Central America. Shannon spent 12 years working with indigenous communities, genocide survivors, and other human rights activists in Guatemala before returning to the U.S. with her family. Her greatest source of pride is her family, and she works hard to be a mother who imparts joy, gratitude, and respect for the unexpected bumps along the road. Shannon has published her poetry online with Rebelle Society and in DoveTales, a print journal published by the group, Writing for Peace. She can frequently be found drumming in parks with her family, drawing, or reading her poetry at the Urban Goatwalker Coffeehouse in the Phoenix Hill neighborhood.Connect with Shannon on her website here or view her intuitive art 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!~