How did I miss this? I love this SO much. Beautiful. I like the earthy realness of this moment captured - a little tired, a little pressed, these are the moments where true living happens :) Thanks, Astrid.
This is wonderful Astrid. This is a beauitful testimony to the forming of friendships, the evolution that often comes in the simplest of encounters, around tables and over food, coffee, music, nature. Friendship blooms everywhere! It just needs a litte watering.
Aww thank you!! I used to write a lot of fiction, but for a while now, I've been really enamoured of the possibilities of narrative poetry, and using poetry to tell stories. I really do think of each poem as an extra short story, and I'm so glad they come across that way!!
This may or may not be too niche for some of you to understand the double meaning, but I *really* enjoyed writing this one and I'm looking forward to elaborating on it in my newsletter at some point soon. I've also been waiting for the right prompt to try playing more with rhyme, and I'm so excited by the direction my brain went today!
Wow, this one is super super cool, A. :D I really love it! Beautifully executed as a rhyming poem - I also admire what I consider to be your courage in using slant rhyme. I haven't done enough with that yet haha.
I also just love the simplicity and clarity of the intention, the confidence of the speaker's voice :) I'm pretty sure the actual meaning is lost on me, haha, but it nonetheless still has LoTR vibes. Without the double meaning, I still love it a lot! :) Thanks for sharing!
I love this, A. Your rhyme flows so nicely and works so well. As I exoefruence your wortds, a wonderfu,l blend od fortress, natural world, protection, and the key to entry--kindness, compassion, faithfulness, trust, truth--seem like timeless wisdom from the earth. Once again, your poetry has touched deep into my heart space, bringing forth emotions and I did not even know were there, and get me thinking, thinking, thinking! Thank you! --,
How powerful, Aleesha. So beautiful, thank you for sharing your vulnerable heart here. SO well said, and also story of my life. Ever since I can recall, in all memories of interactions with others, I definitely felt I was too far in my own world (a slightly different interpretation of what I think you meant here) to be worthy of friendship in the ways I saw it manifest around me.
"Perhaps now
I can stop trying so hard
To be perfect
And find the souls
With whom my soul
Can rest."
Such potent medicine, which comes first and foremost from our ability to rest in intimacy with ourselves <3 Thank you for your powerful and loving voice today!
Yes, absolutely! If ever we have doubts about the abundance of words and poetry, this very fact can assuage them if we let it <3 I appreciate how much wisdom and medicine you bring to every space you enter!
Beautifully written, Aleesha. Honest, true, tender and seeet. It sounds like you are being a good friend to yourself. You are worthy of all good things! .
The descriptions of friendships from Rumi, Hafiz, and Audre are a warm invitation to discover more deeply what a friendship is.
“The beginning of a new bridge from one dream to another” creates beautiful imagery to me of a rainbow bridge connecting two people together. Maybe that’s because I just came from a Pride event 😊
Aleesha, I haven't had a chance to read the whole article with full attention, but I wanted specifically to tell you, in relation to your comments here and your last post, I so appreciate, admire, and am completely inspired by your curiosity to explore friendship and connection in your life these days.
Every journey has its challenges, lord knows, but... you have such a clear vision and such a passionate heart, it just moves me to see you in action, in your own post and here. I hope that Pride event was AWESOME and that you continue to explore friendship in delightful ways this month and onwards. (Meanwhile, I feel grateful that Berlin Pride is in late July, lol, so I'll be excited to hop back across the water and get to it next month :D).
What a beautiful comment, Aleesha. Thank you. I like the lovely image of a rainbow bridge, and so happy it was inspired by the Pride event you attended. Dream on!
I too loved seeing the addition of Rumi, Hafiz and Audre Lorde, All three have radically influenced my life with the depth of their poetry and wisdom. Here in your poem I really loved the beautiful ways you describe friend and friendship. "a quickening step as a rendezvous awaits;" Loved this, the sweet anticipation. Then, "knowing refuge in your kindness and love," truly being there for each other. Great flow too, touching the heart, thanks!
Thank you Julie. Those three are powerful influences on me as well. Thank you for your kind and gracious coments. They warm my heart and pump me up to keep writing. Peace be with you, my friend.
What spoke to me here is the friendship with addiction. I know this one, the seductive call, the familiarity and dependability of always being there. Yet the price paid a heavy one. I had issues with food and I remember calling it my "friend." This has not been an issue for me for many many years. Yet I recognize that seductive call right away.
Nicely done, Chuck, The notion of addiction and disorder as friend, a very real phenomenon and one we should never discount, is so real and true. You've done a nice job of shining light here.
What beautiful memories. They evoke early memories of a close friend I had as a child who moved away. I sometimes wonder if she remembers me the same way.
Yes, I felt called to ponder and write about this friendship. It was early in my childhood a friend that nobody saw but me. In retrospect I see how inculturation through the growing up process wipes away these connections, it did for me.
I had an imaginary friend as well! I can't remember how long, but I called him Peter Pan, and I talked about him enough that my mom gave me a handmade doll which I named after him. ❤️
This is lovely, Julie. We once heard a beautiful sermon at a UUA church about friendship, and the temporal nature of some of them. As my brother's memorial service, one of his dearest friends said "Bill and I traveled together for a while, even though we were moving in different directions." Your poem evokes that sense of friendships that are essential and also pass along.
Yes I have been contemplating this too, the temporal nature of friendships. Seems like they have their own seasons. Life changes, we change, relationships change. An ongoing ebb and flow.
Your poem invokes some deep questioning in me. You did your work! Like, why do some have many friends and some only one or two, or none. And the depth and level of friendships, superficial to deeply bonded. And why lasting friendship is a spectrum, a life time or just a few days. Wonderful ponderings...
Loved the last few lines, "but life goes on, healing occurs, a new friend can arise unexpectedly."
Thank you Steven. A nice exploration of how hard it can be to make lasting frendships, especially of the deep variety. I like the ending to your poem, a wonderful light of hope. Bless you aleays.
So very glad to see you playing and sharing and loving here today, friends :) Happy Saturday to you all <3
They drink black coffee in his kitchen.
It’s gotten dark outside, his roommate’s gone to sleep,
She needs to go, to catch the long train home,
But they never quite run out of things to say,
Voices climbing with enthusiasm,
Until they realize they’re making too much noise,
And like children in their parents’ house, they make a point to whisper,
Cheeks flushed with the warmth of cheap lightbulbs.
The bottoms of their cups are thick with sediment
From how, too many times, they tip the French press up,
Hoping the coffee will never run out.
The window is open,
Summer air and crickets, distant shouting,
Lingering cars and laughter in the streets.
She makes another pot of coffee.
How did I miss this? I love this SO much. Beautiful. I like the earthy realness of this moment captured - a little tired, a little pressed, these are the moments where true living happens :) Thanks, Astrid.
Your poems are like stories that leave a vivid picture in my mind. I love that :)
This is wonderful Astrid. This is a beauitful testimony to the forming of friendships, the evolution that often comes in the simplest of encounters, around tables and over food, coffee, music, nature. Friendship blooms everywhere! It just needs a litte watering.
Repeating what has been said... For me your poems are like a moment in time, a story told, depth revealed.
To echo Aleesha, your poems often feel like (extra) short stories to me. I'd read the heck out of a short story written by you, Astrid!
Aww thank you!! I used to write a lot of fiction, but for a while now, I've been really enamoured of the possibilities of narrative poetry, and using poetry to tell stories. I really do think of each poem as an extra short story, and I'm so glad they come across that way!!
You do SO well with this genre :) Agree with all the others; the story of this poem - and all of them so far, really - is exquisite <3
They absolutely do!
This may or may not be too niche for some of you to understand the double meaning, but I *really* enjoyed writing this one and I'm looking forward to elaborating on it in my newsletter at some point soon. I've also been waiting for the right prompt to try playing more with rhyme, and I'm so excited by the direction my brain went today!
Those seeking entrance to my heart
may seek me out beneath the stars.
Deep in dark, by cliffs protected,
the shining doorway is reflected.
A place of refuge left shut, lonely,
by barrier of language, only.
A fortress I do not pretend;
You may enter if you just
speak friend.
Wow, this one is super super cool, A. :D I really love it! Beautifully executed as a rhyming poem - I also admire what I consider to be your courage in using slant rhyme. I haven't done enough with that yet haha.
I also just love the simplicity and clarity of the intention, the confidence of the speaker's voice :) I'm pretty sure the actual meaning is lost on me, haha, but it nonetheless still has LoTR vibes. Without the double meaning, I still love it a lot! :) Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! I tried to hold the idea of a rhyme scheme loosely, because I cared more about the subject, but it lent itself to it pretty well anyway.
You're definitely on the right track with the double meaning!
That totally makes sense :) I think you wrote this in an engaging and delightful way!
Quite curious, further, about the double meaning - I'll be waiting for your post ;)
I've got a post planned for this Tuesday already, so you can expect it in the one after that!
I really love this! If feels very precious and tender.
Thank you, Julie!
I love this, A. Your rhyme flows so nicely and works so well. As I exoefruence your wortds, a wonderfu,l blend od fortress, natural world, protection, and the key to entry--kindness, compassion, faithfulness, trust, truth--seem like timeless wisdom from the earth. Once again, your poetry has touched deep into my heart space, bringing forth emotions and I did not even know were there, and get me thinking, thinking, thinking! Thank you! --,
Thank you, Larry! 😊
I’m surprised
That I had friends
In my youth.
I was so rough
So prickly
So caught up in myself
At times.
But even then
I was worthy of love
Worthy of kindness
Worthy of good things.
Perhaps now
I can stop trying so hard
To be perfect
And find the souls
With whom my soul
Can rest.
How powerful, Aleesha. So beautiful, thank you for sharing your vulnerable heart here. SO well said, and also story of my life. Ever since I can recall, in all memories of interactions with others, I definitely felt I was too far in my own world (a slightly different interpretation of what I think you meant here) to be worthy of friendship in the ways I saw it manifest around me.
"Perhaps now
I can stop trying so hard
To be perfect
And find the souls
With whom my soul
Can rest."
Such potent medicine, which comes first and foremost from our ability to rest in intimacy with ourselves <3 Thank you for your powerful and loving voice today!
😭 I love how words and poetry can mean slightly different things to each viewer and yet still feel like medicine to the soul
Yes, absolutely! If ever we have doubts about the abundance of words and poetry, this very fact can assuage them if we let it <3 I appreciate how much wisdom and medicine you bring to every space you enter!
"Perhaps now
I can't stop trying so hard
To be perfect
And find the souls
With whom my soul
Can rest" - this is been a defining theme of my adulthood so far. We were always worthy. ❤️
We were always worthy, even when told we weren’t by ourselves or others 😭
We were always worthy 🧡
Beautifully written, Aleesha. Honest, true, tender and seeet. It sounds like you are being a good friend to yourself. You are worthy of all good things! .
I could quote the same lines here as everyone else has! They are familiar to me as if I could have spoken them. That is the power of poetry isn't it?
Prickly.🙂
Glad to be in this space with you all, new friends! 🧡
So glad as well, Larry <3
Spent the day with a couple of long time friends, and walked with this for a while. Here goes, a work in progress!
Friend
“Let’s be friends.”
Small café in coastal town,
History pouring from every seam
and fabric of the past.
Smiles offered as peace tokens,
The beginning of a new bridge from one dream to another.
I wonder what is a friend?
It is more than just the capacity to be friendly;
Out beyond the abstract notion of friendship.
It is full of levels and layers and degrees,
provisional paths and conditional limits;
described with meager terms like good, old and best.
Rumi saw the friend as the deepest way to love,
Hafiz as the integration of spirit, soul and human,
Audre Lorde as sister beyond gender, deepest soul partner;
A beauty of blended sacred truths alive in relation;
seeing into each heart as divine; holding each other in peace,
always open to the presence of love in the sacred.
Perhaps I’ll know it when I feel it.
a smile at the mention of a name.
a quickening step as a rendezvous awaits;
playing the world’s best song on repeat,
knowing refuge in your kindness and love,
accepting the wonder of my own beating heart.
The descriptions of friendships from Rumi, Hafiz, and Audre are a warm invitation to discover more deeply what a friendship is.
“The beginning of a new bridge from one dream to another” creates beautiful imagery to me of a rainbow bridge connecting two people together. Maybe that’s because I just came from a Pride event 😊
Aleesha, I haven't had a chance to read the whole article with full attention, but I wanted specifically to tell you, in relation to your comments here and your last post, I so appreciate, admire, and am completely inspired by your curiosity to explore friendship and connection in your life these days.
Every journey has its challenges, lord knows, but... you have such a clear vision and such a passionate heart, it just moves me to see you in action, in your own post and here. I hope that Pride event was AWESOME and that you continue to explore friendship in delightful ways this month and onwards. (Meanwhile, I feel grateful that Berlin Pride is in late July, lol, so I'll be excited to hop back across the water and get to it next month :D).
Many blessings! <3
Beautifully said, Jillian! Aleesha, I agree with the eloquent Jillan 100%!
What a beautiful comment, Aleesha. Thank you. I like the lovely image of a rainbow bridge, and so happy it was inspired by the Pride event you attended. Dream on!
I too loved seeing the addition of Rumi, Hafiz and Audre Lorde, All three have radically influenced my life with the depth of their poetry and wisdom. Here in your poem I really loved the beautiful ways you describe friend and friendship. "a quickening step as a rendezvous awaits;" Loved this, the sweet anticipation. Then, "knowing refuge in your kindness and love," truly being there for each other. Great flow too, touching the heart, thanks!
Thank you Julie. Those three are powerful influences on me as well. Thank you for your kind and gracious coments. They warm my heart and pump me up to keep writing. Peace be with you, my friend.
Rumi rules.
Amen!
I love this exploration of what friendship means!
Thank you my friend.
Hey, friend, screw them.
we don't need them.
It's just us.
It's you and me,
against the world.
I know what you want.
I have what you want.
I am what you want.
My friend.
My good friend.
A friend like no other.
I love you and I want you.
With a seductive language
all its own,
the selfish bottle
ruthlessly pleads its case
to any gullible sucker
with an ear to lend.
the world is our oyster.
What spoke to me here is the friendship with addiction. I know this one, the seductive call, the familiarity and dependability of always being there. Yet the price paid a heavy one. I had issues with food and I remember calling it my "friend." This has not been an issue for me for many many years. Yet I recognize that seductive call right away.
Amen, sister.
Nicely done, Chuck, The notion of addiction and disorder as friend, a very real phenomenon and one we should never discount, is so real and true. You've done a nice job of shining light here.
30 years sober, she still winks at me sometimes.
Hey today, june 10 is AA's 88th birthday. Did not know this.
Happy birthday. AA
Happy Birtdhay AA! it is also our youngest Brady's 30th!
So awesome!
A deep bow to you and your clear headedness. Blessings along the way.
This is really powerful, Chuck. I sensed the shift from your usual tone even before I realized the poem's subject.
My first friend came to me,
I know not when nor where.
Certainly, someplace out of time
yet tangible as this solid ground.
Inseparable we were.
Joined at the hip, they say.
Everywhere I went, there he was.
We shared meals together.
Romped through the forest,
spreading magic as we flew.
Acted out fairy tales,
preforming all the various parts.
And when I was troubled and upset
he was right there alongside me.
Truly, a genuine faithful friend
as ever there was one!
I don’t remember when he left.
But as I ponder and consider,
I believe I did the leaving.
Not as some event or impending transition,
just over time…forgotten.
.
Now a fond memory.
What beautiful memories. They evoke early memories of a close friend I had as a child who moved away. I sometimes wonder if she remembers me the same way.
Yes, I felt called to ponder and write about this friendship. It was early in my childhood a friend that nobody saw but me. In retrospect I see how inculturation through the growing up process wipes away these connections, it did for me.
I had an imaginary friend as well! I can't remember how long, but I called him Peter Pan, and I talked about him enough that my mom gave me a handmade doll which I named after him. ❤️
This is lovely, Julie. We once heard a beautiful sermon at a UUA church about friendship, and the temporal nature of some of them. As my brother's memorial service, one of his dearest friends said "Bill and I traveled together for a while, even though we were moving in different directions." Your poem evokes that sense of friendships that are essential and also pass along.
Yes I have been contemplating this too, the temporal nature of friendships. Seems like they have their own seasons. Life changes, we change, relationships change. An ongoing ebb and flow.
friend
I don't understand
what that means
I spent childhood alone
I had friends in the Navy
but civilian life changed that
the same with college
and seminary (both times)
less lasting friendships
as time goes on
I don't understand
trauma does that
but life goes on
healing occurs
a new friend
can arise
unexpectedly
Your poem invokes some deep questioning in me. You did your work! Like, why do some have many friends and some only one or two, or none. And the depth and level of friendships, superficial to deeply bonded. And why lasting friendship is a spectrum, a life time or just a few days. Wonderful ponderings...
Loved the last few lines, "but life goes on, healing occurs, a new friend can arise unexpectedly."
Thank you Steven. A nice exploration of how hard it can be to make lasting frendships, especially of the deep variety. I like the ending to your poem, a wonderful light of hope. Bless you aleays.