Today, I want to share one of my poems that was recently published in The Sun, one of my favorite magazines. (You can also hear me reading the poem on the website.)
So often we keep our wounds silent, but when we listen and allow them expression, we discover whole pathways of connection and expression.
Poem for The Self by Nadia Colburn
Why were you so timid?
So what if the man opened the door and
ripped open the sweet flesh of your body,
if it was the babysitter or the uncle or the father
late at night, so late
it was almost dawn.
Why were you always waiting
to open your mouth to speak,
thinking there would be another time,
thinking that the world would reveal itself
elsewhere?
Decade after decade you waited
for an answer. As if the smallest flower
might speak.
Suddenly you saw:
the honeysuckle blossoms you picked—
that smelled so fresh
just after dawn, their long, open
throats—are the same as the golden dome
of the mosque, as the temple doors,
as the old blind man on the corner of a street
in Athens that you walked down holding your two-
year-old son’s hand, as the man’s wrinkled, dirty hand held out for change,
as the stray dog, as your laughing child—
Can’t you hear?
In the silence, there is nothing
to wait for. Everything, already, is in you—loud,
bold, clear: where the red fabric
was torn and where it was always whole.
I hope my poem inspires you to speak and to listen, to trust this present moment, and to celebrate—and write into—your own wholeness, whatever has happened.
I'm also happy to announce that we have a topic for a brand new poetry class I'll be teaching this fall: Poetry of Silence and Voice.
The class will, of course, include lots of close readings, teachings, meditation and embodied practices, lessons, prompts, and community! I'm very excited for this class--we'll be exploring how to listen to and speak into all kinds of silence, from sacred silence to political or social or traumatic silences, how to write from the body, write for these times, and how to use poetry as a way to explore new forms of expression.
More coming soon, and in the meantime, as always, I love to hear from you.