Asides

Messy Is As Messy Does

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 11 Comments

Messiness has gotten a bad rap.

From childhood on, I was taught to value tidy and clean over cluttered and dirty.

Being seen as a “mess” is something to avoid at all costs today. There is shame in being seen as messy.

Look at any social media feed. Selfie taking has been developed into an art form. There’s been an increase in nose jobs, and the reason for them? It is people wanting to look better for their selfies! No one, for the most part, is proudly posting their mess. Unless it is an apartment reno in process or a confessional “staged mess” to make a humorous point of some kind.

With such socio-cultural pressure, it is no wonder that I learned to strive for perfection in all things, especially the presentation of my self.

I literally dreaded being seen without makeup or with a hair out of place.

And God forbid I was to have a negative emotion! Shove that way down, baby! Slap a grin on it and pose.

Trouble is, the very nature of life is change. And change, my friends, is messy.

Ergo, life is messy.

It has been quite an unraveling, this perfection mechanism. I’ve had to unpack a load to get to my mess.

And once I found my mess, I had to come to love it.

I will be honest. at first, all I wanted to do was get rid of it!

Thankfully, I have some teachers in my life who are artists. Artists know the value of mess. They helped me understand that it is in my mess that my talent lives.

And so began an embracing. Of my mess. Of change. Of life.

It has been challenging at tines, sure. This is not an overnight process.

But boy is it incredible.

My home is neat and tidy. I am an organized woman. I crave order.

But I relish getting messy and allowing myself to be seen in my mess too. And the most fulfilling parts of my creativity are gloriously messy!

Today, I am a love-able mess living a messy, wonderful, creatively fulfilling life. And I say that with pride, not apology.

Messy is as messy does is more than fine for me.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: messy

Soundtrack

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 2 Comments

The trestle rumbles from up above

The earth vibrates under our backs

We lay underneath and watch the light

Dance in-between the tracks

We dream of places we’ll one day go

And the people that we’ll become

Our laughter comes easy, I feel so free

From my heart, I begin to hum

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: above

Take Two

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 9 Comments

That’s right

I’d like a restart, please

I’d like one more shot

At being who I am

I’ve really gotten

So much of it all

So wrong

So come on, Universe

Watcha think?

How ’bout a do-over?!

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: restart

 

The Unfurling

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The light inside

Early on

I learned to dim

Shining brightly

Was dangerous

All sink, and no swim

I try now to be,

To let, to shine

To radiate freely

All that is mine

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: dim

The Other Shoe

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Heart beating

Mouth, dry

Pit of dread

Locked inside

Shallow breaths

Try to be strong

I freeze

Pray I am wrong

Inspired by The Daily Post Word Prompt: premonition

Sweet Dreams

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 3 Comments

Best song about imagination ever. The kid in me still longs for such a place. (The “Chocolate Room?!” Are you kidding me!!? Hello!!) Who didn’t want to be Charlie?

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 American musical fantasy film directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. It is an adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.

The film has its strengths and weaknesses. It manages to be wonderful, touching, fun, creepy and scary all at once.

But most importantly, it is one of many reasons I loved Gene Wilder. His brilliance, I will always believe, was way underrated. He is credited with having agreed to do the role if he could make his entrance in the film a very specific way.

He said: “‘When I make my first entrance, I’d like to come out of the crowd carrying a cane and then walk toward the door with a limp. After the crowd sees Willy Wonka is a cripple, they all whisper to themselves and then become deathly quiet.”
Wilder continued: “As I walk towards them, my cane sinks into one of the cobblestones I’m walking on and stands straight up, by itself. But I keep on walking, until I realize I no longer have my cane. I start to fall forward, and just before I hit the ground, I do a beautiful forward somersault and bounce back up, to great applause.”
Why did he insist on this?
Wilder has been quoted as saying: “Because from that time on, no one will know if I’m lying or telling the truth.” 

Now that is brilliant craftsmanship.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: imagination

Ceasefire

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 3 Comments

It’s high time to assemble you all

To congregate the many parts of my self

That with which I struggle and push

And that which brings me joy and wealth

The brave, the meek, the in-between

Sit you all aside one another in peace

I promise equal time for all: I love you each

It is time for the Great War to cease

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: congregate

Astral Projection

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 1 Comment

I learned long ago

How to leave my body

Escape what was

Incomprehensibly horrific

I saved my own life

Salvaged my sanity

(Such as it was)

But there’s a price to be paid for such traveling

You cannot escape the bad

Without missing out on the good

I could leave my body

At any time today

But I choose not to

I have other ways to cope

That don’t cost so much

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: astral

Sustenance

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 3 Comments

Recently, a wise woman I know was talking about the earth: how we are the earth and yet are poisoning it. About how confusing and heartbreaking that is.

I cannot stop reflecting on that. This poem reminds me of my own connection to Mother Earth, one that I have come to cherish, but being an urban dweller, I can often “forget.”

I needed this poem today. (Some days are rougher than others.) Maybe you do too.

“And the Great Mother said:

Come my child and give me all that you are.

I am not afraid of your strength and darkness, of your fear and pain.

Give me your tears. They will be my rushing rivers and roaring oceans.

Give me your rage. It will erupt into my molten volcanoes and rolling thunder.

Give me your tired spirit. I will lay it to rest in my soft meadows.

Give me your hopes and dreams. I will plant a field of sunflowers and arch rainbows in the sky.

You are not too much for me. My arms and heart welcome your true fullness.

There is room in my world for all of you, all that you are.

I will cradle you in the boughs of my ancient redwoods and the valleys of my gentle rolling hills.

My soft winds will sing you lullabies and soothe your burdened heart.

Release your deep pain.

You are not alone and you have never been alone.”

~Linda Reuther, Homecoming

Responsibrellaty

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ Leave a comment

“Allow me to offer my observations from my assay of the umbrella etiquette out here on the New York City Streets,” she said sardonically to no one in particular and everyone at once.

“None of you know how to navigate with this appendage. Work with me people!!”

And with that, she resolutely pressed her lips together and set back out into the treacherous sea of weaponry her fellow urban dwellers were unconsciously wielding, a lone champion amongst the heathens.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: assay