Poetic License~My Best Friend

This afternoon trying to stay busy as not to cry again, I was looking through my catalog of poems trying to find one I had written 14 years ago on my other best friend Phylis who died in 2001. 

I had a friend of mine who was trying to help a couple of months ago & accidently wiped out my hard drive we thought with all my manuscripts, art & poetry. Over the last few months I have painstakingly retrieved a few from various sources. 

Well this afternoon I did something I had never done before and did a search on my desktop and two amazing things happen: 1. I found my manuscript, my poetry and 2 years of essays! 

I've been copying them as quickly as I could when all of a sudden.. .

2. I found a poem that Karen had written back in 1982! I am sharing that with you today to honor my friend. Karen & I have done poetry readings before, she had been the voice, the narrator of my doc on Katrina. I am going to share it with her family when I put the quilt together for them... 

 

Flight

                     By Karen F. Hurst ©82

When I was a child I believed I could fly

I told this to my mother who'd watch me and sigh

"Girl, you're a child, not a sparrow or a wren,"

Then she pause and say sternly, " Don't say that again"

The subject was closed, but I knew I was right.

I'd go to my room, close the door and take flight!

Later I'd tell her just how high I flew

She'd say,"You 're dreaming, dear." Ah! but I knew.

No, this is no dream, I'd cry to myself

As I flew from my bed to perch high on a shelf.

And I vovwed to myself that one day she'd see

What she thought was a bird in the sky would be me!

As I grew older, I forgot I had wings.

I was told to be "normal" to do "normal things"

The more normal I got, the more Mother smile

"You're a sensible girl, not flighty or wild

Dream dreams if you must, but to make them come true.

Be sure they make sense to those around you"

Now, thats good sound advice if you happen to be,

One who's not seen the world from the top of a tree.

But, I had tho' I knew no one'd believe

So I stayed on the ground and let my soul grieve.

I prayed tho' some day again I'd take flight

My flying now trapped inthe wings of the night.

The older I got, the more trapped I became

Like a bird who's been caught and who's wings had gone

                                lame

I convinced myself I'd imagined it all.

I couldn't fly, I"d do nothing but fall

My mother was right, I didn't have wings

I confined my spirit to sensible things

I did all the things I saw others do,

And didn't know why I was so sad & blue.

Its hard to be someone you know when you're not.

Deep down within, my poor spirit fought.

The wings of my soul beat hard on the cage'I soon found myself filled with bitterness's rage!

Just as I felt that I had been beat,

My spirit hung limp with the thought of defeat.

Just as I told myself I'd fly no more

A great hand touched my cage and opened the door!

The hand held two birds, two tiny white doves,

Both given to me with a great deal of love.

They looked up at me, large eyes filled with wonder

"Teach them to fly", said a voice filled like thunder

"But humans can't fly, is what Mother said....

If we cannot fly, then we'd rather be dead".

In shock and with fear, I looked into those eyes,

"Don't say that my darlings, I'll teach you to fly!"

We went to the top of a very high hill

All the earth seemed to stop, all greww very still.

"I've not flown for years," I tried to explain.

No excuse would do.  It grew very plain.

I looked into those faces and then at the sky-

"God, if you're up there, please help me to fly"

I raised heavenward and then took flight!

What a glorious feeling!  A wonderful sight!

I;d never again deny my soul's needs.

The cage door was open, I knew I'd been freed!

And I heard myself say, flying into the blue,

"God does answer prayers!  Dreams do come true!"

All Rights ReservedKFH©6-82

Make a Happening Happen! (Dah dah DAH)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0HhHva8ZcY

I wrote this yesterday in regards to a rhetorical question ; "What are you doing to make a happening happen"?  I was a tad bit surprised when some did not understand the question when in essence I was asking them  to create a shift just for today.  Yesterday I was working on creating my own happening.  Didn't know what my outcome was going to be.  What I knew for sure was I had to be about creating the ground work for it to be.

I had to trust that everything that I could possibly do, I did.  And then I had to step aside and let it be.  What ever the outcome was, I would accept it even if it wasn't what I wanted or desired.

One of my students who was here during Mardi Gras asked me how can I teach someone to imagine?  It was in reponse to them asking me what I taught.  My workshop name is actually "Imagination, Inspiration and Other Leaps of Faith"

We all have the capable to imagine.  Some of us have had that skill laid dormant, being educated out of ourselves, been told it is foolish and a complete waste of time etc.

Yet much of what we use as routine today has been because someone imagine, became inspired and then boldly went where no man (or woman) had gone before.

 Sometimes the answer does not come easy or may come ridiculosuly packaged that everyone is telling you don't do it.  True enough you can sometimes fall on your face, get laughed at, feel it is all over.  

But at least you dared to go off the path.

But there are those times you must go so you can grow and then watch yourself glow like there is no tomorrow!

So what are you doing today to create a happening in your life.  Large or small; grande or petite?

Is there something you can create which can bring  a shift in activity, thinking, eating, doing good for others, doing good for oneself, creating a new job, career, passion , thinking or getting an application to go back to school, new hairdo, updating wardrobe, trying something new you always wanted to do, stopping something (at least for today) you want to stop but never really  tried to before, change the color of a room, move a chair from one spot to another?

The happening could be something small or large that you may do to shift your world. It could be as simple as trying a shade of lipstick you never thought you would to, investing in a fund for that trip you've only dreamt about, to packing up as I did & moving across country to a place who is trying to revamp itself or correcting a habit (just for today) or getting your groove on with  no concern for people thinking you are acting foolishly.

True enough you could fall flat on your face... I have many times, but at least I threw the fishing line out there... True enough even in the middle I've question was this wise, smart the "correct" thing to do, but I did it anyway.

Today I made a happening happen. I had a challenge that appeared to be insurmountable. I mean it would have grossly affected my living condition. I had exhausted everything, so I let it be.

Low & behold 3 hours later, it righted itself in a big way! There was also a sidebar ripple, unexpected, that got resolved because of the happening.

If I had not gotten up at 4am went to the fishing pond and threw my line in not knowing if the fish were going to bite who know where I would be right now.  And even if they were not biting at this part of the pond after I threw the line in would I pack up and go home after 1 try or move to another side of the pond?

I move to another side and the fish bit.. 

In a large way...

So whenever you feel like:

Or beating yourself up because it is not where you think it should be in "reality"

Create a happening. You may be a wee bit surprise what the outcome will be when that door opens.  When I "teach" imagination it is primarily a course to allow people to do what is in them all along. You see a 4yr old can understand purple clouds, by middle school they start to question, high school they roll their eyes and by adult hood they say "I am not creative". Yet they create every day.  But the conditioning we get tells us we are not.  People associate creativity, imagination with being artistic.  True enough they are siblings, fraternal triplets however not identical.

As one of the students who is coming out of graduate school this year said "how do you teach someone imagination"? My instant thought was "Oh oh". Guarantee you along the way someone told them to put away the foolishness, get real or get a "real job" "you have to deal with reality". 

"Stop dreaming"

"Stay real"

"You'll never to that"...

"Come back to earth"...

All the while using tools that someone told THOSE creators to "put away all that foolishness"; "get real" etc.  They may not see the that

1. because we are condition not to.  Imagination allows one to dream... Dream allows critical thinking.  Critical thinking allows.. well you should know the rest.

"Hey life look at me, I can see the reality...Cause when you shook me, took me out of my worldI woke up, suddenly I just woke up to the happening....
One day you-re up, then you turn aroundYou find your world is tumbling down...I was sure, I felt secure, until love took a detour...Yeah, riding high on top of the worldIt happened, suddenly it just happened...
I saw my dreams torn apart, when love walked away from my heart"

Lyrics by Holland Dozier & Holland 

It happened to me & it could happen to you...

Then:

I woke up, suddenly I woke up

The Happening...

 Dah dah DAH!