Dance Me Wilderness
Tag: healing
Poetry in the Every Day
Tread lightly
walk in softness
Photographs whilst walking
become source of reflection
inspiration and care on
days when I can’t walk.
Thread lightly
memories only a few days old
This feather nestled in
the surrounds of the park
a moment of grace
saying ‘stop and be with me’
Today my heels are in a sorry state,
covered in antiseptic cream
band aids and slippers
and still I can hardly tread
on ground.
So this what the little mermaid
meant when she said
‘I walk in pain.’
I must be content with scrolling
through the beauty of my last walk in
nature
just down the street.
Move lightly
swim in softness
So near and yet so far.
This soft feather a solace.
Move lightly
become softness.
And mystery is a feather
discovering its poetry.
(c) June Perkins
That Day
That day when we ran into
watch tv
the black and white of
Sesame St
now full colour
was jump up and down on the couch
joy.
That day when someone looked at
me and said
you can’t talk to me
you are not my friend
was tears.
That day when my friend
made a necklace for me out
of fimo and it was frangipanis
the past was lost
and part of me was healed.
That day when someone tried
to break into our house
and our friends arrived
before the police did
and stayed to make us tea
when the intruder was taken away
was scarier than a cyclone
and preparation.
That day when I found out
I could write and research
the rest of a history story
I had been waiting to do so for
twenty years
was a story saying
I bless you
to share me.
That day I told my story
about Yasi
to help others
I began to let it go.
(c) June Perkins
The Conversation
Written in Response to Australian Children’s Poetry Prompt 6#
Perhaps this a young adults poem though rather than for children. What do you feel are the themes of this poem and what age group would you share it with? As for the structure, the key to that is the word window. . .
I will keep thinking about the prompt and see if I can create a poem for younger children.
HEALING
Love this poem from Melissa. Go check out her sensitive poems and mesmerising photography.
Like a fishing heron
I will stand on one leg
And wait
For the healing to begin.
It starts deep inside
The silent knitting together
Of cells and tissues
Into an intricate suspension bridge
Spanning the wound
Slowly
The restorative mind fixes its beam
On the hotspot
Tapping the reserves
Of sunlight and music
Channeling the resources
Of tea and compassion
The balm of small feats mustered
It is a balancing act
A resolution
To keep the self-pity genie
Stoppered in its bottle
Regeneration
A humbling of the spirit
A discovery that strength and patience
Are one and the same.
Shadows into Light
There are days when you can play
with shadows to see the light
you can find these on journeys
past cane and fallen down trees
Life has corners you can’t see
twists and turns
still photography.
Sometimes we don’t see connections
We go and miss
the shimmering.
Sometimes we don’t see the beauty
We’ve forgotten how to feel.
You can chase the sunlight
across the window panes.
You can turn it into
anything you want.
Climb and clamber
shine and Sway
in the forests
light the way.
Capture a glimpse of connection
dream of nature’s rhapsody
make this a day to remember.
Chase the shadows into light.
Sometimes we don’t see connections.
We go and miss the shimmerings
Sometimes we don’t see the beauty,
We’ve forgotten how to feel.
Make this a day to remember
Chase the shadows into light
(c) June Perkins, song lyric.
Footsteps
Photo Credit: June Perkins
Footsteps I hear
Loud
Soft
Allegro
Andante
Footsteps to follow
courage
resilience
persistence
recovery
Footsteps of mystery
creation
birth
life
purpose
Footsteps I can’t avoid
milestones
old
memory
death
Footsteps
loss
pain
healing
renewal
Inner footsteps
Silence
Meditation
Journey
Understanding
(c) June Perkins,
Sorry Day Song
Tracing the past in the lines of a book
Doesn’t always work
Doesn’t always heal.
Sometimes we have to go back to the dark.
Sometimes we need to search for the spark.
Find the words that work, find the words that heal what we feel.
Stories of memory,stories of land
Words they are tricklin’ all through my hands
Stories tryin’ to work
Stories tryin’ to heal what we feel.
Aunties and Uncles are under the trees.
Stories are floating around in the breeze.
Stories tryin’ to work, stories tryin’ to heal what we feel.
Tracing the past in the lines of a book
It doesn’t always work
And it doesn’t always heal
Sometimes we have to go back to the dark.
Sometimes we need to search for the spark.
Find the words that work, find the words that heal what we feel.
A song rippling out from Ripple, written on the day of the national apology to Australia’s Indigenous people.
