Don't Worry.

To those concerned by my recent 'darker' poetry ... it is neither here nor there ;-) All is temporary. All is malleable. My poems should reflect this...

They are merely a vehicle for channeling different emotions in concentrated forms, and as a result, they help me to process how I am feeling at any given moment. In this way I get to look at how I am feeling, with a sense of curiousity which allows me to use the quality of the emotion to make some art and then move on, rather than dwell on, or get caught up in the storyline of the situation and / or circumstance that triggered the emotion!

When I finish a poem, I have already moved on from what was being said. The process of writing allows me to let whatever needs to be released, to flow free. It's very cathartic ;-)

Life isn't always roses, which in itself is a kind of beauty. This is what I find myself acknowledging at the moment. Pain, anger, sadness, resistance - it's good to explore these, as they are really just doorways to unfolding to a greater understanding of oneself and as a result, become more available to joy and peace. We cannot know one without the other. Ying and Yang. Light and dark. The balance.

The only time these emotions become dangerous, is when one becomes lost in them ... lost in the story. Poetry allows me to become the observer, and therefore I have space around the story - distance from it. Then I can write about it and hopefully learn something from it! It's a space where I can see the emotions for what they are - neither here nor there, allowing them to be, in order to fully let them go. So do not worry. When you read my poems ... consider that you are just tracing my footsteps through life ... and with each one I have already moved on ... always moving forward ;-)

To summarise, I will leave you with a favourite story of mine:

- Two Monks -

Two traveling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. 

Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed.

As the monks continued on their way, one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. 

“Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!”

“Brother,” the second monk replied, “I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her.”