Journey of the Heart

  Freshening A focus on attending to the pain, the needs of others has long been my companion. So deeply ingrained  that I tend to override my own, yet I both hurt… and need. This antiquated habit  of putting myself last sometimes constricts  my sense of allowing  the rhythm of healing to move freely through. But, it does anyway. When I spiral softly  into another chasm  that needs attention I can get confused, think I must do something, apologize, or that I’m simply  supposed to hurt. Eventually, though, my breath joins the wind in the trees, the pulse of the ocean, the vastness of the sky above. I can smile, say hello to new Health, let pains release over time. With a freshening of companionship in this vessel that is me, I become more and more adept  at riding  the steady waters of healing, letting them carry me along. (This poem originally appeared in the author's blog found  here ) Sarah Carlson   has many pieces to her wh...

I wrote the poem, "Second Sight",  as a way of trying to put into words something that happened to me  automatically... In it, I attempt to describe the feeling of submerging myself in my own instinctive inner place of healing. The theme of motherhood ran easy adjacent to this as it became the most instinctive thing I experienced.  Second Sight by Alison Banks Let soft flesh blankets fall on sight, Withdraw from survival. Wean from physical knowing. Light pulls near to nurture.  Suckle. Swaddled in blissful protection, Curious energy chaperones while visions commence, Appreciated instinctively as tongue to teat. Illimitable sensing absorbed to the soul, Unlatch absolute. Blankets unfurl, existence awakes. Alison Banks: I am a mother of three. I studied performance after leaving school, but at nineteen I started work supporting the homeless in my local area and have continued to do this for the past fifteen yea...

The restorative powers of Mother Nature are formidable… The coast has always been a favorite place of mine to rejuvenate my flagging spirit. I grew up in a coastal town with two beaches—one busy and touristy, the other wild and deserted. You can guess which one I preferred!   When writing poetry, my first instinct is to immerse myself fully in the feeling and then the words flow! In this poem I have tried to convey the sensations of the salt air on your face, sand in your mouth, between your toes and fingers, hair wild and unkempt in the wind; the feeling of expansiveness, of being just a small cog in the whole Universe of Oneness, of such enormity; the feeling of being nurtured, cared for, never alone. The natural world gives us so much. I am now mostly housebound due to illness and am no longer able to access those quiet, wild places in nature, so I often take a few moments and re-visit a favorite place in my mind’s eye.  For example, I ...

  I spent most of my life feeling censored… Ironically, it wasn't until I lived in Guatemala as a human rights and mental health worker, working on a project called "Historic Memory," that I began to feel freer to explore who I was and what I wanted to say. I also experienced many things in post war Guatemala that are difficult to put into words, in part because it all happened in languages that are not my native one, and in part because sometimes the depths of experience surpass words.  A few years after I moved back to the US, drawings and poems began to pour out, surprising me with their vibrancy and emotion. I had promised the people of Guatemala, the survivors of unspeakable acts, that I would remember them and tell their stories. Our stories became entwined, sacred acts of defiance in the face of those who wanted to erase the truth.  Palo santo and copal are two different types of incense used to cleanse the air and draw the spirit world and the actual ...