Julie, this is simply and wonderfully marvelous. The creativity you show and the obvious fun you are having made me laugh during the first and subsequent readings. What a gift you have given today! May laughter always find you!
YES! Thank you for capturing this sombering aspect of life so well, Steven. I really appreciate the way you connect this potentially whimsical prompt to a bigger picture of a sometimes serious world.
I also really liked "revealing the
"emperor's new clothes"
are but a statement
of resistance
in a world of
control and oppression
trauma and violence" - you've been on such a roll with how you've incorporated beautiful references lately. Thank you :)
(Also, my grandfather is 97 and is still a master of the poop joke xD What is it about geriatrics that maybe makes us turn to the gastrointestinal system for our humor? Lol)
I don't think it was his older age.. I think it was that he spent over 60 years in Boy Scouts including 12 as camp director and 6 or so as camp chaplain in his 80s. He was young at heart.
A laugh as "a statement of resistance in a world of control and oppression, trauma and violence" Love this, even though its unfortunately true! "To laugh is connect with a truth beyond stodgy and stuff forced conformity" YES! Laugh as a protest, laugh as a healing, laugh just to laugh!
This is wonderful, Steven. Your poem made me think of Kaitlin's newest book, Living Resistance, which speaks to the themes raised in your poem. It is a beautiful book that I have gifted numerous times the past few months. I really appreciate your often taking the ground not traveled yet in your poems. Magnficient work!
That was actually the first stanza I wrote! I had thought it might go in a different direction, but I loved that simple rhythm and decided to build on it.
I hope this set of haikus tells the story that’s happening in my head. I was inspired by A’s haiku triplet a few days back with this one :)
Laughter is so powerful, but it’s funny how I have almost had to reclaim that power as an adult because there was so little of it in my home growing up. It’s almost a practice that I have to just let myself go with it because my body says no.
Thank you for this prompt today, I think there’s been some medicine in it.
Thank you for sharing this, Aleesha, there has definitely been some powerful medicine in it :) This is a gorgeous haiku triplet that I think you execute magnificently, and also definitely tells the story you've described.
You hit on an important point, I feel. Laughter is so powerful, and we all know it, but because it is a very real power we're dealing with, we can't take it for granted. I appreciate your vulnerability in sharing about the distance of laughter in your life until now, and I think that precisely illustrates the scale of the opportunity it offers. I thank you for reclaiming the power of laughter now, because it definitely ripples out into the world :)
This is a beautiful poem, and an even more beautiful reclamation of joy for you and for your child. ❤️
I've had a similar journey of working to allow my body to release tension over things that I want my children to be able to experience without the hesitation or shame or worry that I do. It sounds simple, but it's a matter of reparenting yourself while simultaneously parenting them, and that takes a lot more energy and practice.
A., it's an incredible joy and gift to hear you say this. It is PRECISELY a reparenting. You make that awareness sound effortless, as one who has clearly put in so much work and time to reach that point. So many others in the world have not reached that point, and this is what motivates me to create and write and hold spaces like this and do any of my work, because I want the touch of this insight to expand. Thank you <3
I hear you! The reparenting of myself while raising kids was a necessity! Wanting more for my kids, I had to come to terms with my own conditioning resulting from the failings of my parents. And oh there were many! I am actually still reparenting myself even though my kids are grown. Both my parents have passed at this point, which actually has made the job easier!
I am not at all surprised that it feels easier for yousince their passing. It's been a real struggle to try to give grace to my parents for not knowing/doing better and to honour their genuine attempts while I am actively parenting in ways that are directly opposed to some of their values. There's been a lot of friction because of it, though I'm grateful for the growth we have managed.
I can see that too! At this time, we are taking space from my family because I’m tired of doing things the way we’ve always done it, but I have no idea how to move forward with them in a way that’s respectful and kind for both sides and, ultimately, in the best interest of my children.
This journey feels hard and lonely, and I’m thankful we can share in some of that here
I appreciate all of these movements, from all of you, so much. Although I don't have children, I, too, am home, right now, PRECISELY for this healing and reparenting within me to take place. I hear you, A., I'm also working actively on holding my family in a different grace, so that I might continue to know myself as I do and also know them as they are, opening the way to more and more love.
Not easy, but so many of us are walking this path and can find each other in spaces like this, as you said, Aleesha.
It's absolutely both hard and lonely. I have some extended family I've been taking space from and I'm also in that place where I don't know how to move forward - or even if I want to. Even with my parents it's been a lot of back and forth. I'm also grateful that we can share and feel a little less alone here.
This thread is wonderful and so enlightening and rejuvenating. Thank you all. When our first son arrived, Dea and I spoke after a few months with other parents, and we all said "no one tells you how funny our kdis can be." Nothing could take me out of my preoccuation with work, life, etc or my own self centerednesss more quickly than children, who often have clear and simple needs, and who are also some of our greatest teachers and clearly avatars of a cosmic connection.
The need to distance oursleves from our famileis, or parts lof thedm, resonates. It can be both hard and neccessary to do. IT feels like a lfetime for me of letting go of what should have been, grieving that, forginving otehrs, inclhding msyelf, at the same time distancing from toxic and emotionally damaging relationships. Thank you for the brilliant term, reparenting, and for the inspiration each of you give me every day on this jpurney.
I love and welcome your haikus, Aleesha. They do tell a story, one that I, and I expect others, can relate to. Myself and so many others I know experienced what might be best termed "Hard Love," (emphasis on hard), growing up, and laughter was often in short supply or was absent for long stretches. I like to laugh, perhaps a gutteral response of hearing so little of it in immediate and extended families.
Thank you for your beauitful short poems, haikus, that fed me today like water at the end of a trek through the desert.
Oh, I love this Astrid! It definitely made me laugh! I like how you present the inevitable conflict when joy, aka "shenanigans" meets cultivated seriousness, which often has no idea what to do with such behavior. It made me think of Mary Poppins, one of the sheroes in our family! Thank you for being playful, silly, joyful and creative in your writing and in yoou chaotic dancing outburts! Flash Mobs unite. Barvo for spontaneous laughterfand wild, rolling friends!
In our Sunday service this morning and a gathering afterwards, we spoke of the way that laughter helps form and nurture relationships, strengthens community and ignites joy. We laught a lot in our services and gathering, to the chagrin of some, and there is soemthing beauitfully sacred about laughing toether in love, laughing with and not at, laughter that createsand cosntructs rathan than destroys. As I walked thriough this day of much laughter, this poem came to me in the aftermath of this shower of joy.
Laugh
Laughter trickles in through open window,
toddlers playing in puddles, splashers delight.
Heart songs from the deepest well,
the timeless way that an authentic laugh
will bring the smiles to our face and
a light to our darkness.
The divine grace of laughter from the heart,
the dance of delight in a lover’s embrace,
the symphonic rise of contagious laughter
shared in community, basted in love.
The favorite sound of sacred beings,
ecstatic design of a blossoming world.
“Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God,”
Karl Barth once said. And I wonder:
Why don’t we see more of a laughing God?
Like the laughing Buddha bearing abundance and well-being,
Coyote teaching wisdom in a whimsical way,
angels laughing as we reach the shores of Avalon..
How do we teach God how to laugh again?
When will we release Jesus from the grips of dour prophets?
Surely he laughed at the escapades of his beloveds.
Undoubtedly he laughs at our dogmatic proclamations,
yearning to be free of our cynical demands and myopic aspirations;
Our spiritual ancestors just waiting to laugh with us.
I like to imagine that God laughs right along with us when something is really silly, even if it’s “inappropriate.” I think they have a much better humour than most of us dour adults do.
Fun one today Jillian! Taking the idea from your FRIEND poem.... The letter U was a challenge., and there were two of them!
.
J Jolly jokes and jibberish jesting in joyous jubilation.
U Ubiquitous undulations unabashedly underway.
S Spirited silly snickers while singing sumptuous songs.
T Tantalizing tickles and teehees, a thrilling tomfoolery treat.
.
L Lightheaded lively laughing at lavish levities.
A Amusing adventurous allegros, audaciously auspicious.
U Unique uncensored urchins unleashing unctuous uh-ohs.
G Gleeful giggling giddiness grinning at great gags.
H Hysterical hoots and ha-has from hilarious happy humors.
Wow, Julie, that's so fun and full of so many delicious words!! A writer's paradise ;) Your lexicon is quite lavish here hehe.
I especially like "Unique uncensored urchins unleashing unctuous uh-ohs" hahahaha. That made me laugh out loud. I think you nailed U ;) Nice!
I liked that one the most too. I read the poem to my daughter and we both had a good laugh.
TEE HEES, 🙂
Like Jillian mentioned, you've used some really delicious words here. I love the lightness and playfulness.
I LOVE THIS!! My mind created a perfect picture book, a full 2 page spread for each letter. Vivid playful magical! Certainly strummed a cheeky smile 💞
Julie, this is simply and wonderfully marvelous. The creativity you show and the obvious fun you are having made me laugh during the first and subsequent readings. What a gift you have given today! May laughter always find you!
Laugh
I feel stuck
between
the past and the future
between
heaven and hell
between
life and death
what can someone do
in that situation
but remember
and hope
remember
those laughs
from loved ones
some start
subtly
with a smirk
that builds
to a smirk and smile
and finally
leaving the lips
with a chuckle
others
can't be contained
exploding
out from deep within
to a belly giggling
expression of fun
points of someone
spits out their drink
remembering
those many times
that life was good
and joyful
brings hope
that they will
return to that place
of peace and laughs
whether it is a
fart joke
like those that my grandfather
enjoyed even late into dementia
or something funny
that happens
out of nowhere it seems
misspoken words
a good joke
both childhood
knock know jokes
and slightly adult jokes
can disrupt
the status quo
revealing the
"emperor's new clothes"
are but a statement
of resistance
in a world of
control and oppression
trauma and violence
a laugh is something
beyond this world
at times
a spiritual
breakthrough
into the weariness
of time and place
that seems hell bent
on crushing joy
to laugh
is connect with
a truth beyond
stodgy and stuff
forced conformity
a vast eternity
of creative energy
sustaining life
YES! Thank you for capturing this sombering aspect of life so well, Steven. I really appreciate the way you connect this potentially whimsical prompt to a bigger picture of a sometimes serious world.
I also really liked "revealing the
"emperor's new clothes"
are but a statement
of resistance
in a world of
control and oppression
trauma and violence" - you've been on such a roll with how you've incorporated beautiful references lately. Thank you :)
(Also, my grandfather is 97 and is still a master of the poop joke xD What is it about geriatrics that maybe makes us turn to the gastrointestinal system for our humor? Lol)
Thank you.
I don't think it was his older age.. I think it was that he spent over 60 years in Boy Scouts including 12 as camp director and 6 or so as camp chaplain in his 80s. He was young at heart.
A laugh as "a statement of resistance in a world of control and oppression, trauma and violence" Love this, even though its unfortunately true! "To laugh is connect with a truth beyond stodgy and stuff forced conformity" YES! Laugh as a protest, laugh as a healing, laugh just to laugh!
Thank you
Love this - joy as resistance.
Thank you
This is wonderful, Steven. Your poem made me think of Kaitlin's newest book, Living Resistance, which speaks to the themes raised in your poem. It is a beautiful book that I have gifted numerous times the past few months. I really appreciate your often taking the ground not traveled yet in your poems. Magnficient work!
the brightness of
a smile unbound;
as radiant
as it's profound
.
the cadence of
a laugh let loose;
no holding back,
no shy excuse
.
the lightness of
our joy set free;
to ride the waves,
to dance at sea
.
the patience of
a love like this;
such safety, and
such heady bliss
Oh, yes!!! Echoing Julie here. This is good stuff! Joyful, subtle, humble, and proud :D
I love the feeling of this on the tongue, like a buttermint melting.
My favorite part:
"the cadence of
a laugh let loose;
no holding back,
no shy excuse"
That was actually the first stanza I wrote! I had thought it might go in a different direction, but I loved that simple rhythm and decided to build on it.
This is a fun one A. Full of joyous expression even in the subtle delightful ways .
Loving the line, "the patience or a love like this" .... truly the release into deep laughter feels like such LOVE.
Your poem makes me smile, A. What fun it is and profound in its joy and lightness. You say that in your first stanza:
"the brightness of
a smile unbound;
as radiant
as it's profound."
I love that! Your poems make me sing, smile and reflect, and always invite me to try a different polace than where I though I was heading.
I agree with Jillian and Julie in their comments. And I, also, love this stanza:
"the cadence of
a laugh let loose;
no holding back,
no shy excuse."
Perfect! wild roaring laughter, cathartic and theraputic. Thank you for helping me to smile and laugh today!
I'm so glad I can make you smile! 😊
That's a given (your making me smile), as well as always helping me think more expansively! I am very grateful!
I can’t remember
As a child many cases
Of my moms laughter
.
My son speaks his mind
The urge for seriousness
Says no to laughter
.
A crack in my lips
Let’s tension out with the air
We join in laughter
.
I hope this set of haikus tells the story that’s happening in my head. I was inspired by A’s haiku triplet a few days back with this one :)
Laughter is so powerful, but it’s funny how I have almost had to reclaim that power as an adult because there was so little of it in my home growing up. It’s almost a practice that I have to just let myself go with it because my body says no.
Thank you for this prompt today, I think there’s been some medicine in it.
Thank you for sharing this, Aleesha, there has definitely been some powerful medicine in it :) This is a gorgeous haiku triplet that I think you execute magnificently, and also definitely tells the story you've described.
You hit on an important point, I feel. Laughter is so powerful, and we all know it, but because it is a very real power we're dealing with, we can't take it for granted. I appreciate your vulnerability in sharing about the distance of laughter in your life until now, and I think that precisely illustrates the scale of the opportunity it offers. I thank you for reclaiming the power of laughter now, because it definitely ripples out into the world :)
Beautiful.
This is a beautiful poem, and an even more beautiful reclamation of joy for you and for your child. ❤️
I've had a similar journey of working to allow my body to release tension over things that I want my children to be able to experience without the hesitation or shame or worry that I do. It sounds simple, but it's a matter of reparenting yourself while simultaneously parenting them, and that takes a lot more energy and practice.
A., it's an incredible joy and gift to hear you say this. It is PRECISELY a reparenting. You make that awareness sound effortless, as one who has clearly put in so much work and time to reach that point. So many others in the world have not reached that point, and this is what motivates me to create and write and hold spaces like this and do any of my work, because I want the touch of this insight to expand. Thank you <3
I hear you! The reparenting of myself while raising kids was a necessity! Wanting more for my kids, I had to come to terms with my own conditioning resulting from the failings of my parents. And oh there were many! I am actually still reparenting myself even though my kids are grown. Both my parents have passed at this point, which actually has made the job easier!
I am not at all surprised that it feels easier for yousince their passing. It's been a real struggle to try to give grace to my parents for not knowing/doing better and to honour their genuine attempts while I am actively parenting in ways that are directly opposed to some of their values. There's been a lot of friction because of it, though I'm grateful for the growth we have managed.
I can see that too! At this time, we are taking space from my family because I’m tired of doing things the way we’ve always done it, but I have no idea how to move forward with them in a way that’s respectful and kind for both sides and, ultimately, in the best interest of my children.
This journey feels hard and lonely, and I’m thankful we can share in some of that here
I appreciate all of these movements, from all of you, so much. Although I don't have children, I, too, am home, right now, PRECISELY for this healing and reparenting within me to take place. I hear you, A., I'm also working actively on holding my family in a different grace, so that I might continue to know myself as I do and also know them as they are, opening the way to more and more love.
Not easy, but so many of us are walking this path and can find each other in spaces like this, as you said, Aleesha.
It's absolutely both hard and lonely. I have some extended family I've been taking space from and I'm also in that place where I don't know how to move forward - or even if I want to. Even with my parents it's been a lot of back and forth. I'm also grateful that we can share and feel a little less alone here.
This thread is wonderful and so enlightening and rejuvenating. Thank you all. When our first son arrived, Dea and I spoke after a few months with other parents, and we all said "no one tells you how funny our kdis can be." Nothing could take me out of my preoccuation with work, life, etc or my own self centerednesss more quickly than children, who often have clear and simple needs, and who are also some of our greatest teachers and clearly avatars of a cosmic connection.
The need to distance oursleves from our famileis, or parts lof thedm, resonates. It can be both hard and neccessary to do. IT feels like a lfetime for me of letting go of what should have been, grieving that, forginving otehrs, inclhding msyelf, at the same time distancing from toxic and emotionally damaging relationships. Thank you for the brilliant term, reparenting, and for the inspiration each of you give me every day on this jpurney.
Aleesha, beautiful poem. I feel the tension, the holding back and then the release. Yes, there has been medicine here!
Thank you, Julie 💕
I love and welcome your haikus, Aleesha. They do tell a story, one that I, and I expect others, can relate to. Myself and so many others I know experienced what might be best termed "Hard Love," (emphasis on hard), growing up, and laughter was often in short supply or was absent for long stretches. I like to laugh, perhaps a gutteral response of hearing so little of it in immediate and extended families.
Thank you for your beauitful short poems, haikus, that fed me today like water at the end of a trek through the desert.
This inspired me to bring some absolutely off-the-rails energy today :D Thank you Jill!!
-
With apologies, Sir,
We really didn’t mean to cause such a commotion in the art gallery.
Yes, of course, we grasp the gravity of the exhibit,
And understand that this is not the place for, quote-unquote, “shenanigans.”
We are deeply sorry for all alarm
Caused by our “chaotic dancing outburst”
(why, no, we hadn’t practiced, it came naturally!)
(Very impressive, if you think about it)
And we are quite prepared to compensate that nice gentleman for the damage done to his shoes,
Even though he really should have seen that he was stepping on our smoke machine.
I mean, it was right there.
And yes, we understand that we are banned from all future galas,
And all publicly funded museums, for life.
Rest assured,
We have no plans to cause any further disruption.
That would just not be like us.
Oh, I love this Astrid! It definitely made me laugh! I like how you present the inevitable conflict when joy, aka "shenanigans" meets cultivated seriousness, which often has no idea what to do with such behavior. It made me think of Mary Poppins, one of the sheroes in our family! Thank you for being playful, silly, joyful and creative in your writing and in yoou chaotic dancing outburts! Flash Mobs unite. Barvo for spontaneous laughterfand wild, rolling friends!
Ok, gather round, kiddies,
for one of my sea story ditties
.
It was 1800 hours.
chow time was ours
on a just half done
batfish north run.
.
One overly creative cook +
Two pints chocolate milk +
Three dozen potatoes.
.
one crack about baby poop
is all it took for our troop
to scoop up the poop
with a full throated war hoop.
.
Food fight at 300 ft.
.
Still makes me laugh.
This makes me laugh too, Chuck. I feel like I am right there, though I would want to avoid getting the food in my face!
It was all over the crews mess, took hours to clean up.
but, on the bright side, chocolate mashed potatoes was never heard from again
Hah!!!
In our Sunday service this morning and a gathering afterwards, we spoke of the way that laughter helps form and nurture relationships, strengthens community and ignites joy. We laught a lot in our services and gathering, to the chagrin of some, and there is soemthing beauitfully sacred about laughing toether in love, laughing with and not at, laughter that createsand cosntructs rathan than destroys. As I walked thriough this day of much laughter, this poem came to me in the aftermath of this shower of joy.
Laugh
Laughter trickles in through open window,
toddlers playing in puddles, splashers delight.
Heart songs from the deepest well,
the timeless way that an authentic laugh
will bring the smiles to our face and
a light to our darkness.
The divine grace of laughter from the heart,
the dance of delight in a lover’s embrace,
the symphonic rise of contagious laughter
shared in community, basted in love.
The favorite sound of sacred beings,
ecstatic design of a blossoming world.
“Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God,”
Karl Barth once said. And I wonder:
Why don’t we see more of a laughing God?
Like the laughing Buddha bearing abundance and well-being,
Coyote teaching wisdom in a whimsical way,
angels laughing as we reach the shores of Avalon..
How do we teach God how to laugh again?
When will we release Jesus from the grips of dour prophets?
Surely he laughed at the escapades of his beloveds.
Undoubtedly he laughs at our dogmatic proclamations,
yearning to be free of our cynical demands and myopic aspirations;
Our spiritual ancestors just waiting to laugh with us.
.
I like to imagine that God laughs right along with us when something is really silly, even if it’s “inappropriate.” I think they have a much better humour than most of us dour adults do.
Right with you Aleesha!