I was invited to share a little about my newest book of poetry and prose, This is Love, written over several years.
Last August I managed to slip off for three full nights and organize my surplus of poetry and prose. On the second night I realized there was an ample set of words leaning up against a pale amethyst pillow all dedicated to love. And in that sea of heartfelt renderings, I started to see a pattern of how This is Love holds self-love, love of nature and the love lost and found in relationships.
The middle section has sustained me over the years. The outer two sections have been stitched together by developing trust in self and understanding the variables of love are not always glorious but in fact difficult. When we love fully we can be hurt, betrayed, lied to, manipulated and in the end that very love space can become hardened or it continues to accept vulnerability as the magma of our heart’s flow. We recreate and grow. Flourishing has a trajectory of squalls, lulls, and joys. Even as I type these words I’m overcome by my tenderness and it reminds me of these words in my book, “Love often slips from my eye’s soul,” because I feel into the infinity of love’s borderless acceptance. And finally, I now share with you a poem from my new book:
Sit with Me
Just sit with me
on the edge of always
and I’ll tell you a story
of how shooting stars
are really angels
and how much
a tangle of wet grass
are lovers holding raindrops.
Just sit with me and
I’ll let you trace your fingers
over an imaginative odyssey,
tasting each page as it turns.
Just sit with me all seed-like,
nested in safe shelter
within midnight’s
gorgeous brown earth
before thoughts reach
a glad of sun’s light.
Just sit with me
in a patch way over there
by sea, or boulder,
or on an edge of a pier
with feet swaying
to the waves of
dreams and tears.
I’ll be there.
Sitting and wondering and being
the sky’s deep blue with you.
Carolyn (Riker) Avalani, M.A., LMHC is a licensed counselor, teacher, writer and poet. Over the last five years she has written for numerous online journals and has been in five anthologies. Her most recent book This is Love was published June 2018. Before that she contributed and co-edited, Hidden Lights: A Collection of Truths Not Often Told, which holds 53 artists sharing their stories, poems, art and photography. Her first book of poetry and prose, Blue Clouds was published December 2016. Between sips of coffee, navigating life with copious writing and daydreaming, Carolyn offers creative writing workshops, coaching and private counseling. To find out more please visit her website at www.carolynriker.com or on facebook here.
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