The blackbird only cares for the world of the living, as it perches upon the ruins of a broken city.
Listen love,
even civilizations fall
let’s forgive each other
for the ruined city of our love.
Peace,
Tima
Common Blackbird at Ostia Antica
Decolonizing Woman
Tradition? Culture?
come with me
I’ll show you how the woman used to be
before the fingerprints of
the colonizer
erased her memory
implanted false morality
I’ll show you how the woman used to be
before she fell
at the sly hands of patriarchy
asking for forgiveness
for sins not her own
Let’s remember woman
hidden behind the veil of consciousness
her wild state of anarchy
— the repressed is never dead
She gave birth, she made, she destroyed
the world was hers to take
not to be slouched and shy
feigning purity
No, I’ll show you woman
before she was touched by the dirtiest hands
I’ll show you woman
she takes as much as she gives
she sets free.
Letting Go of Sorrow
Now my dear,
Have you not wallowed enough
in your childhood’s sorrow
is it not the time
to pick up your own heart
cover it with a tender hug
let it sing to you
discard the old garment
the old identity
of the one who bleeds in waves
let your grief-identity fall to the floor
you are ready to soar..
take flight
new shores await
where the land will hold you
steady
and in its soothing breeze
your sorrow will turn to light…
It is sorrow that eventually turns to light. You won’t always stay in the land-of-loss. You will find more welcoming lands where the sun will show up again and the breeze will soothe your pains.
I wrote the poem for myself but it is for you too if you are dwelling on losses and taking yourself to a dark place.
Doing healing work where you look back at your traumas can lead to this type of prolonged lingering. It is important to be grounded in the present while looking back to the past.
The thing about being sad is that it can become an identity – a place of comfort that you are afraid to leave. There will come a time when you need to let go completely and “grieve the grieving” as psychotherapist Alan Robarge once put it.
P.S. Remembered to insert the memory card back in the camera this time!
