A Wake for Normal

Writing poetry in bed

is becoming my sleep hygiene.

There’s a part of me most alive

within a cocoon,

mindful of the intricacies

involved in preparation.

Space preparation specifically.

Where we release the need to mimic anything,

and accept the notion of a creative process.

We are in a creative process.

And like everything made,

there are resources to gather

connections to understand

habits to shift

timelines in and outside of our control

impacts to take seriously

people who feel things faster

and worse.

People who have been preparing

for a brief time,

and those who have waited patiently

for some to come along.

What is the wisdom we avoid?

Focused energy,

with sustainability

known through self knowledge

and caring relationships

are our challenges.

Our creative challenge specifically.

Permission to mirror

and not punish truth tellers.

Acuity to view outcomes

as serious;

everything we fear

and yet not resolved by panicking.

Neighborly acts

require mapping out spaces,

seeing people

and changing to meet new needs.

Sacred acts

are built up as fuel,

come birth,

come death,

come life after death.

The change agent

we can’t hug

asks us,

what is safe?

What is the wisdom we avoid,

or avoided before now.

Orientation can make us awake

and it can alter our dream states,

but it can’t keep us moving.

We will have to come alongside

questions of creativity

with community care

and accountability for

more than we want

responsibility for,

and it may be enough.

But it won’t be normal,

that’s been dead and gone.

What is the wisdom we avoid?

That lies aren’t created;

they’re believed.

What beliefs cannot

fit with us in cocoons

we are afraid of mourning?

What creating will come forward?

What are we not alone with —

though we believed;

believe,

and ought to question

if and why we were.