#210: Sending hugs to your inner child 🤗
"You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves." -Wild Geese, Mary Oliver
Hello,
This late night dispatch is here in your inbox to celebrate your inner child.
I’ll spend more time in another newsletter talking about how I’ve started the process of reconnecting with and healing my inner child. But in the meantime:
Yung Pueblo’s true words:
A heard of elephants taking a quick nap (via):
Some Jiddu wisdom:
“Our minds have been conditioned from childhood to think in a certain way; we are educated, brought up in a fixed pattern of thought. We are tradition bound. We have special values, certain opinions, and unquestioned beliefs, and according to this pattern we live – or at least we try to live. And I think therein lies the calamity. Because, life is in constant movement, is it not? It is a living thing, with extraordinary changes; it is never the same. And our problems also are never the same; they are ever changing. But we approach life with a mind that is fixed, opinionated; we have definite ideas and predetermined evaluations. So, for most of us, life becomes a series of complex and apparently insoluble problems, and invariably we turn to someone else to guide us, to help us, to show us the right path. Here, I think, it would be right for me to point out that I am not doing anything of that kind. What we are going to do, if you are willing, is to think out the problem together. After all, it is your life, and to understand it, surely, you must understand yourself. The understanding of yourself does not depend on the sanctions of another.”
Poems for your inner child
1. She Asked Me To Kill The Spider by Rudy Francisco
She asked me to kill the spider.
Instead, I get the most
peaceful weapons I can find.
I take a cup & a napkin,
I catch the spider, put it outside
and allow it to walk away.
If I am ever caught in the wrong place
at the wrong time, just being alive
and not bothering anyone
I hope I am greeted
with the same kind
of mercy.
2. Excerpt: To My Mother by Mahmoud Darwish
(Translated by A.Z. Forman)
“I am old
Give me back the stars of childhood
That I may chart the homeward quest
Back with the migrant birds,
Back to your awaiting nest.”
Read the full poem here.
3. Born. Living. Will. Die. by Camonghne Felix
(for my favorite auntie, Jeanette)
Sometimes I think I’m never going to write a poem again
and then there’s a full moon.
I miss being in love but I miss
myself most when I’m gone.
In the salty wet air of my ancestry
my auntie peels a mango with her teeth
and I’m no longer
writing political poems; because there are
mangoes and my favorite memory is still alive.
I’m digging for meaning but haunted by purpose
and it’s an insufficient approach.
What’s the margin of loss on words not spent today?
I’m getting older. I’m buying smaller images to travel light.
I wake up, I light up, I tidy, and it’s all over now.
4. To Be Human Is to Sing Your Own Song by Mary Oliver
5. Excerpt: An Eastern Ballad Poem by Allen Ginsberg
I never dreamed the sea so deep
The earth so dark, so long my sleep
I am become another child
I wake to see the world go wild.
Read the full poem here.
Links I loved
Honoured to have my photograph accompany this gorgeous new Madràs song
Mr Doodle just doodled his house. Full tour here. (Reminds me of Maud Lewis's painted house)
Always believe you can change the world (A letter of advice from mother to daughter)
Kate Gavino’s Last Night’s Reading series
Everything everywhere all at once (Susannah Conway on getting an ADHD diagnosis at 49)
20th Nov: PoeTree Hang with The Alipore Post x BLR Design Week
I'll be hosting a PoeTree meet-up at Cubbon Park on Saturday, 19th November, 11am to 12pm as part of @blrdesignweek. We will read aloud our favorite nature poems, write some poems together and spend the morning under the shade of Cubbon trees and celebrate our shared love for poetry. Sign up here!
21st Nov: Poetry Workshop at Spoken Fest (Bombay)
I’ve been waiting to attend Spoken Fest for years, but excited to finally experience it while hosting a poetry workshop on Sunday, 20th November, 4pm to 4:45pm.
Also, I made a postcard, which will be available across the festival to write poems on. Make sure to grab one, and say hi if you’re around!
Stay cozy and drink lots of warm beverages!
Love,
Rohini
To be human is to sing your own song is very very powerful. Thanks for picking it.