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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in amoret briarrose

Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

monster girl

Miracle

by Amoret BriarRose

 

Monster is just the word you use

when you imagine yourself singular

searching out the silver bullets

wandering graveyards, interrogating ghosts;

monster is just the word you use

when you still feel you're imaginary

and you're checking every closet

dragging yourself under every bed.

Monster is just the word you use

when you fear your own appetites

out there wandering the forest

begging mercy of lesser beasts.

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

“Oh,” the girl said, shaking her head. “Don’t be so simple. People adore monsters. They fill their songs and stories with them. They define themselves in relation to them. You know what a monster is, young shade? Power. Power and choice. Monsters make choices. Monsters shape the world. Monsters force us to become stronger, smarter, better. They sift the weak from the strong and provide a forge for the steeling of souls. Even as we curse monsters, we admire them. Seek to become them, in some ways.” Her eyes became distant. “There are far, far worse things to be than a monster.” ~ Jim Butcher, Ghost Story

Apologies, but I do not have a blog post for you today.

Instead, I have poetry.

Lately, I have been interested in exploring the idea that some of us have inside of us a monstrous part, a piece that isn't easy to look at or talk about, a piece that is there to do what needs to be done even if what needs to be done is ugly or inhuman. This part of the self could be seen as a more damaged version of the anti-hero. My husband calls it the Necessary Monster.

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs
I really don't want to commit these ideas to a post. I'm worried that I cannot do them justice, and that I'm just going to write something trite or bullshit or horribly offensive. But I'm writing them anyways, because sometimes trite, bullshit, offensive things start necessary conversations. So here goes.
 

I used to sing Ani DiFranco's song "As Is" and think of others. Now I think of myself.

And I've got
No illusions about you
Guess what?
I never did
When I said
When I said I'll take it
I meant,
I meant as is.

I have a body. I am a body.

My body is many things. My body is soft and supple. My body is flexible and strong. My body is prone to allergies and skin irritations. My body is ample hips and delicious curves. My body is endometriosis and blond hair. My body is tiny wrists and scoliosis. My body is tattooed kindness and frequent urinary tract infections.

I am soft, supple, flexible, strong, prone to allergies and skin irritations. I am ample hips, delicious curves, endometriosis and blond hair, tiny wrists and scoliosis, tattoos galore and UTIs, too.

My body experiences chronic pain. That's part of being in my body.

I am chronic pain. That's part of being me.

And sure, there are times that I have wished that I didn't have the physical issues I have. It has been comforting to think that someone else's body could not only be tried on, but could fit.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Francesca De Grandis
    Francesca De Grandis says #
    Good stuff. It'll help people! In case it might be a support to your own process, my book Share My Insanity, It Improves Everythin
  • Arwen Lynch
    Arwen Lynch says #
    This made me stop to think about my own work. I thank you for that. My ever-present pain is something I have learned to live with.
  • Anne Newkirk Niven
    Anne Newkirk Niven says #
    Two thumbs straight up on this post. I'm not always against "general healing" (sorry, Greybeard) BUT it's just downright disingenu
  • Greybeard
    Greybeard says #
    "Unexamined "self improvement" frequently masks self-hate." BRAVO! I got really tired of all the "healing" blather a long whi

This Throwback Thursday post originally posted at sirenafire.com in May 2013:

 This image was in my feed on Facebook a few days back:

 

Image courtesy of Conspiracy Syndrome:  https://www.facebook.com/ConspiracySyndrome

 

I've been seeing a lot of messages lately about choices, as well as messages conveying that good and worthwhile things require a fight, a struggle, much striving and difficulty. Our culture collectively values difficulty (you could throw a rock and hit 10 internet pictures with savvy sayings about how a person needs to strive/fight/work/etc. for fill-in-the-blank-with-your-own-awesome-hard-won-thing) and thus we humans often forget that we can choose something other than the "good fight."

I've been doing spirit animal work with Fox, and Fox has been telling me yes, the humans love to believe in a noble struggle...but transformation can be easy...one just has to choose to let go and let the Flow decide the course, the direction, the meaning, the life. Fox has been telling me it is time to embrace this lesson:

Finding happiness/meaning/worth/your own awesome thing just requires transformation. Transformation is surrender in disguise, and the secret to the whole shebang is this: surrender is easy, and powerful. 

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

An Open Letter to Jane Kenyon

Jane, please-
It is possible to pick a flower and
not trip over the husk,
to squat in pure rejoicing
without looking forward
to the demise of the coffee cup
or the shards of your lover, broken on the floor.
Eat a sandwich.
Walk your dog.
Live your life.

Potential Energy

The seeds (sealed in a pocket
squashed in a small pot
with spongy, thirsty dirt
and simple instructions for planting,
a gesture, an idea of green)
surprise themselves and sprout.

I wrote both of those poems last year, during a shifting and fruitful time of my life. The first, "An Open Letter to Jane Kenyon," was written as I was reading Jane Kenyon:  Collected Poems. I remember very clearly being overtaken by both the beauty of her imagery and the depth of her depression. Jane Kenyon did suffer from depression, and to be clear, I do not mean to make light of that. Dealing with depression myself, I know that it does not allow the luxury of a choice of perspective. Thus, the poem has always felt awkward to me in that "What do you mean, writing to a depressed poet, telling her to stop being depressed? That's really insensitive!" kind of way...and still, something was there that I knew had truth. 

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

I recently went away to a weekend intensive hosted by Expanding Inward.  It was a wonderful weekend, full of revelations and tears...and not once during sessions was I hugged by another participant.

I was not hugged because I didn't ask for a hug.

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Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Amoret BriarRose
    Amoret BriarRose says #
    You are very welcome, and yes, consent is something we can be more aware of. It takes practice, but it is a worthwhile endeavor.
  • Paola Suarez
    Paola Suarez says #
    Thank you. Personally I find that conversations about consent even when it comes to "innocent" interactions like hugs isn't brough
  • Amoret BriarRose
    Amoret BriarRose says #
    Thank you for sharing your experiences, Shauna. I know that my time at the Grove has deeply impacted my ability to witness others.
  • Shauna Aura Knight
    Shauna Aura Knight says #
    Like the Expanding Inward, folks, I also trained at Diana's Grove and I've taken the similar approach in my work of asking ritual
  • Carol P. Christ
    Carol P. Christ says #
    This is so important. When I am told stories of sexual abust (I have heard more than anyone needs to) I always say: "This should n

Don't be deceived by personal presentation. Some will bite on the front end and you'll never see the kindness coming. Some will bite on the back end - where you expect sympathy you will suddenly get steel.

That is the way of it. Do not confuse softness with powerlessness, harshness with lack of solace.

...
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