Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST November 18th 2022

6 Comments

Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

For this session we read a poem “Remember” by Joy Harjo, posted below. 

Our prompt was: “Write about what you remember.”

More details will be posted on this session, so check back again!

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (“Leave a Reply”), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

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Please join us for our next session Monday November 28th at 6pm EST, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions.

"Remember" by Joy Harjo

Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star's stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother's, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.

Copyright ©1983 by Joy Harjo 
from She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo. 
Used by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

6 thoughts on “Live Virtual Group Session: 12PM EST November 18th 2022”

  1. michele348

    About what I remember~~~
    I walk on the dusty dirt path running alongside the bubbling creek.
    It is a place of contemplation and meditation for me.
    It is a place where I find solace when life’s troubles seem to surround me and push me to the wall.
    I seek out, alongside this path, an ancient and towering sycamore tree, my Grandfather tree.
    It has withstood all that it has encountered since it came to be.
    I pause here and offer a short healing prayer.
    The wise tree seems to answer me with reassuring words, words that caress my spirit and supply me strength to endure in this spiraling world.
    I remember that I do not stand alone,
    that I am surrounded by the gifts of Mother Nature if only
    my eyes are wide open and I listen carefully to all that is offered.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Elizabeth

      Michele… Comfort of nature is so apparent in your poem. I love your last words … if only my eyes are wide open and I listen carefully to all that is offered… It reminds me of the scene of Glinda telling Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz that she always had the power within her. Sometimes it’s really all about the paying attention/ being open to listening to get what we need.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  2. Elizabeth

    Sometimes she remembers too much
    (Is there such a thing?)
    She remember every slight, every tone, every offense.
    Would it be better to forget?
    She doesn’t know.
    Remembering is a form of protection
    It reminds her
    Not to step into the muck again,
    And if she must,
    She should put on her protective gear.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
    • michele348

      Remembering might assist us in not making the same mistake over and over, thereby potentially helping us to avoid some of life’s hardships. However, it’s difficult to not repeat some of our poor choices…. thinking somehow “things will be different this time”.

      Like

      Reply
  3. Helen Mia

    Write about what you remember…

    I remember your jolly face
    taken next to the ten Punks outside the Blackpool Tower
    the Christmas illuminations were colourful and sparkling
    You were eighty seven then

    I remember a crowd called out to you
    “Watch them their trouble!”
    She loves it all I said, that’s her

    You with your pink candy floss in one hand
    and your red unzipped handbag in the other
    Buying a bone from the Butcher
    to give to the homeless man’s
    Rottweiler dog who nearly bit you

    I remember the times
    you’d sing like Vera Lynn on the stage
    dance to the Macarena
    doing all your hip-drop moves
    you were quite plump then
    giggled like a teenage girl

    I remember one day the star spangled sky turned cheerless
    as I cradled your hand in mine
    An imperceptible veil lay between
    your fingers and my inability to speak
    since
    Remembering something close to silence

    Like

    Reply

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