Tag: well being

a woman reclaimed

Amy Clark1 Comment

(first day of national poetry month–felt like a day to write a poem–well, a draft of one anyway)

To contain, to protect the fragile radiance

of her dimming light, she crafted a mosaic—

a million and three tiny torn distractingly vibrant 

pieces of paper patiently pasted until

the armor, a perfect pretense, was complete…

seemingly secure and projecting only the rays

she knew would be safe in the sharing.

But paper is a flawed medium when storms threaten 

and even paste can’t hold

amid a deluge.

A million and three tiny torn pieces 

flutter as a loosening begins.

What was a gentle breeze, quickens

foretelling an approaching hurricane—

relentless and unforgiving, this force of nature 

will deliver only one thing with certainty…

Change.

Again.

A razing to force rebuilding.

A flooding to baptize rebirth.

Again.

And she is—

—Exhausted.

There have been too many revisions

lately; mandated by a harsh editor.

So, she attempts to will the paste to hold

…she attempts to funnel her strength

(all of it)

into this maintenance project.

Clenching fists and squeezing eyes 

tightly shut, she prays

as Gwendolyn taught her to:

“Be firm till I return from hell.”

And in that prayer,

she remembers…

…days when her light was abundant,

when it shone freely without fear

of shortage or outage, knowing

its vulnerability was a strength to be admired

rather than a target at which to take aim.

She recalls…

…the days before she was told to

temper herself

mute her hues

to accept that, well, to succeed,

this is the way.

But, this can’t be the way and 

She has known it, and today

she accepts it as true

and her prayers transform because

Lucille has also instructed:

“Today we are possible…everything waits for us”

And with that, a tiny piece of paper

Unlatches itself and sails off on the breeze.

Her eyes open,

fists release,

confident in her own strength,

her righteousness restored,

more pieces detach,

fly away

and as they do

she is fully herself,

a woman reclaimed

out of hiding

who knows that in fact, 

this is truly the way.

Her radiance roars,

her joy revived.

Her strength is beautiful 

And requires no disguise.

She is a force and the others,

well, they can suggest, but the choice

is hers alone.

And now, she knows it.

(in gratitude to Gwendolyn Brooks “my dreams, my works must wait till after hell”, Lucille Clifton “birth-day” and to the writers of “The Mandalorian”)

reminder

Amy ClarkLeave a comment

Since the surgery that mostly resolved my inner ear struggles, I have worked diligently to move beyond the trauma of the seven months of nearly constant hearing and balance issues. Trauma is a heavy word, one that implies lingering physical and mental damage. Anyone who has never spun with vertigo might think my use of “trauma” here is hyperbolic. Anyone, though, who has suffered even momentary vertigo can relate to the terror it invokes. It is hard to explain the confusion of not knowing up from down, the disorientation of constant movement despite sitting still, a statue frozen in time, the fear of not knowing…how long will this last? am I falling? how sick will I be? is this the rest of my life? It is hard to explain the heart racing, sweating, shivering, stomach twisting fury that a vertigo spell induces. No medicine can calm the spinning; it can only quell the nausea…and even that salve isn’t guaranteed. No medicine could promise me that I wouldn’t suddenly become dizzy in the middle of a day, in the middle of the grocery store, in the middle of playing with my kids.

That not knowing stalked me endlessly; I became guarded and began to withdraw. By May of last year, 6 months into this journey, I was nearly incapacitated and could no longer envision the possibility of a “normal” life. I questioned my every move, my every decision. I lost hope of ever being well. Honestly, before this moment, I don’t think I could have even written this much about how frightening the episodes during those months were (and there were more than I can count) in this kind of detail without inducing panic.

I have spent much of the seven months since the surgery unlearning all of that fear. I have spent much of that time working past episodes of absolute panic set off by a too vivid memory or by a simple trip to a movie theater. I have spent much of that time trying not to be in a constant state of waiting for my good health to disintegrate…for the surgery to fail…for the moment when once again I am fighting, clawing, scratching to maintain some sort of quality of life….for the smiles to once again be false and the moments to become hazy and vague.

I have done a great deal of really hard work moving on and I finally felt entirely successful there. So, why? Why when a colleague looks at me and says, “What are you going to do when your health fails again” am I suddenly thrown back into the shuddery shaky shroud of worry and concern. I am no closer to being unwell again just because she asked a question of me, yet my brain and my body now stand on guard…proving there is more work to be done than I realized.  Maybe I had only put a patch, a band aid on a wound that required more time, more cleaning, more attention and maybe some stitches? Maybe I let myself get comfortable and neglected completing the process of healing? Maybe I just wanted to be well so badly that I chose to ignore the depth of the concern in order to focus on life instead (though, is that really so bad?) Maybe this process will be a lot longer than I wanted it to be…maybe it’s forever?

But also, maybe it is a reminder of what it truly takes to be resilient. Maybe it is proof that even in the fear and concern, I still survive, thrive, live. Maybe revisiting my concern will simply grant me a gratitude I didn’t feel as deeply yesterday.  Maybe I am stronger than I realized and accepting that as my truth, even when I am tired of having to be so strong, defines and develops the steps I take into my future.

It’s all about the lens we choose to view the world through, I guess. And, truly, we are the ones who choose that lens. The work of that choice isn’t easy, but its significance hasn’t been lost on me today.

(Day 24…almost skipped today. A timely and unexpected power outage was going to be a great excuse to not write and to go to bed early. So glad the power came back in time for me to get this out. It was needed tonight!)