WorthlessnessWorthlessness comes to me as a quiet white shape rounded, elongated like a ghost it has no arms no legs, a tail like a seal without a flipper line to delineate an edge. No ears, no eyes, just a small mouth it cannot open, except to smile a little it hovers in gentle levitation near me Worthlessness is nearly as tall as I am.
Thank you dear Yan, so appreciate your comment. Yes, a friend. Radical access to joy. My work is a great source of warmth in my life. I am fortunate be immersed in the gift of stories with many people near. Warmly. Kirstie
Your poem really touched me this morning. w/hat a good idea to treat worthless as a friend rather than an insidious enemy. I have always loathed her visits (not sure why I see her as female) especially when she comes with her friend shame. Glad to hear she hasn't stuck around.
I bet all the book bus patrons love it when you're the librarian. We all feel that our special friend is greeting us.
Hope to catch you next week
Love and best wishes - have fun with your daughter
I love the compassion, self-compassion in this, and the way it up-ends expectations. It jolted me. I tried to look at my own feelings of worthlessness. The image that came was a large garment, sodden, heavy with grime and getting in the way of movement and sight. Impeding. So I tried your tender question: what do you need? To be cared for, was the answer. So I filled a tub with clean water, a few rose petals sprinkled. When I hoisted it high on a clothes line sunlight came alive in its bright colours, the breeze swayed it to dance. It looked to me like Worth. But i couldn't put Worth on. A huge resistance to that idea. The part of that image that was me, with no garment, was a little pink being, like a newly hatched bird and feeling a bit exposed, afraid. The question again: what do you need? So far, I'm stuck at this point. Layers of worthlessness, Not simple, it turns out. Thank you so much for the question. The kindness.
Dear Carolyn, thank you for this powerful imagery. Yes so interesting to reveal a contemplation of worth, within the framework of worthlessness. And yes, Iām with you in that worth is a perhaps harder garment to even touch. Look at one, see the other. This is an interesting writing technique too: writing what is absent to reveal what is there, with perhaps a sharper relief than we can easily tolerate. Sending aroha to the fragile pink being, and both versions of garment.
Dearest Kirstie, thank you for this intimate meditation on befriending the parts of ourselves we often want to turn away from. I love the movement in the poem, and the sense of quiet curiosity, that grows into a kind of peace.
Itās nice to hear your voice reading this poem. Iām sure some poetry is best read from the page, but I like hearing it read ā especially by the poet. A Reading feels closer and more personal.
I am imagining a set of poems about different feelings that take different shapes. Would they know each other? How would they relate to one another? Would they live in the same place? Perhaps between the covers of the same book of poems. Or hovering above, among the same clouds.
Hello Mark. Thank you for this great comment. Ha, I love the imagery of the poems about emotions sort of scurrying through the pages of a book, at the edges, in the margins, sometimes greeting each other, or maybe not seeing each other at all. Thanks too for your feedback about the audio - I agree - thereās something extra that comes through with the voice. I love hearing poets read their work.
I particularly enjoy hearing performance poets perform their workāpoets like our own David Eggleton, or Allen Ginsberg. I used to seek out CDs of performance poetry. They are both entertaining and inspiringālike iconic speeches, which I have also discovered on CD and other formats.
Thank you so much Toni. Yes, I think maybe Iām always trying to get to a kind of peace. Lovely to hear from you. š
Thank you dear Yan, so appreciate your comment. Yes, a friend. Radical access to joy. My work is a great source of warmth in my life. I am fortunate be immersed in the gift of stories with many people near. Warmly. Kirstie
Dearest Kirstie
Your poem really touched me this morning. w/hat a good idea to treat worthless as a friend rather than an insidious enemy. I have always loathed her visits (not sure why I see her as female) especially when she comes with her friend shame. Glad to hear she hasn't stuck around.
I bet all the book bus patrons love it when you're the librarian. We all feel that our special friend is greeting us.
Hope to catch you next week
Love and best wishes - have fun with your daughter
Yan
I love the compassion, self-compassion in this, and the way it up-ends expectations. It jolted me. I tried to look at my own feelings of worthlessness. The image that came was a large garment, sodden, heavy with grime and getting in the way of movement and sight. Impeding. So I tried your tender question: what do you need? To be cared for, was the answer. So I filled a tub with clean water, a few rose petals sprinkled. When I hoisted it high on a clothes line sunlight came alive in its bright colours, the breeze swayed it to dance. It looked to me like Worth. But i couldn't put Worth on. A huge resistance to that idea. The part of that image that was me, with no garment, was a little pink being, like a newly hatched bird and feeling a bit exposed, afraid. The question again: what do you need? So far, I'm stuck at this point. Layers of worthlessness, Not simple, it turns out. Thank you so much for the question. The kindness.
Dear Carolyn, thank you for this powerful imagery. Yes so interesting to reveal a contemplation of worth, within the framework of worthlessness. And yes, Iām with you in that worth is a perhaps harder garment to even touch. Look at one, see the other. This is an interesting writing technique too: writing what is absent to reveal what is there, with perhaps a sharper relief than we can easily tolerate. Sending aroha to the fragile pink being, and both versions of garment.
Dearest Kirstie, thank you for this intimate meditation on befriending the parts of ourselves we often want to turn away from. I love the movement in the poem, and the sense of quiet curiosity, that grows into a kind of peace.
Itās nice to hear your voice reading this poem. Iām sure some poetry is best read from the page, but I like hearing it read ā especially by the poet. A Reading feels closer and more personal.
I am imagining a set of poems about different feelings that take different shapes. Would they know each other? How would they relate to one another? Would they live in the same place? Perhaps between the covers of the same book of poems. Or hovering above, among the same clouds.
Hello Mark. Thank you for this great comment. Ha, I love the imagery of the poems about emotions sort of scurrying through the pages of a book, at the edges, in the margins, sometimes greeting each other, or maybe not seeing each other at all. Thanks too for your feedback about the audio - I agree - thereās something extra that comes through with the voice. I love hearing poets read their work.
I particularly enjoy hearing performance poets perform their workāpoets like our own David Eggleton, or Allen Ginsberg. I used to seek out CDs of performance poetry. They are both entertaining and inspiringālike iconic speeches, which I have also discovered on CD and other formats.
Recognition of an emotion which you have control of
Well done
šš
Thank you dear Neil.
Virtuoso kindness!
Thank you Steve! Yes, music describes it.