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Tag: a thousand cranes
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“Revelations” – The Ashlee Craft Show – Episode 017 – Poetry
I read “Revelations”, a poem from my book, A Thousand Cranes, Volume 10 & I discuss how the poem relates to when you’re changing your life & becoming more yourself. -
Same Person / Personal Space
(from A Thousand Cranes, Volume 7)
walking tall with my
shoulders back & my chin lifted
no, no more do I cower hiding behind false bricks & pretending that I am not there
no more do I hide inside myself too afraid to speak at all
no more do I complacently go along with what I am told & never question it
no more do I take the words of others as gospel
or think that just because someone thinks I should do something, that I should
or that I have to go along with it
& never belong to anyone but me
no more am I am afraid to speak up for myself–
don’t let them push you around
two people told me this in the same week
& I took it to heart that time when I finally said no
& learned to take my life back
from the hands of others to whom they thought it had been given
don’t let them push you around
stand up for yourself
stand up for yourself
stand up to all those who try to repress you
or keep you where you don’t want to be
or make you uncomfortable
or bring you down in any way
or make you feel like you’re not worth it–
no more shall I avert my eyes & look down
as if I am hiding
no more shall I hunch my shoulders
as if I am invisible
no more shall I let others push me around
as if I am not worthy of respect
I am a different person now
& no one pushes me around
no one tells me what I should be
no one brings me down
no one makes me afraid
no one makes me feel invisible
no one stops me -
Reflections of Flowers
From A Thousand Cranes, Volume 10
rhymes floating in floodgates of windows, Hey Jude is playing quietly in the background, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road too as she’s walking across the cement, the ground below her is absorbing the sound of footsteps, & they’re echoing between buildings / cool cement in the late afternoon, long shadows / she has decided what she is going to be & walking towards it, bags packed / uncertain future in the distance, like the sun, but she runs to greet it because it is the sun
words floating in empty buildings, they are totally silent but for the street traffic outside, horns honking & the quiet lull of motors, breathe in deeply the emptiness & realize that emptiness can become anything / this building is empty, but it is beautiful / think of the geode: a plain ordinary rock that only when it is broken reveals the quartz crystals that were inside of it all along; this is you / you think your brokenness makes you ugly, but being broken was the only thing that allowed you to see beauty that would have been otherwise hidden from you
raindrops floating in reflections of flowers, you sat inside while it was raining & watched the droplets falling, thinking that you were stuck inside while the storm raged / I said something to you about how everyone must learn not to be afraid of going out to get what they want / you looked me in the eyes & got up & opened the door, took a deep breath & stepped out into the rain / “I don’t have to let storms stop me!” you sobbed, smiling as you walked barefoot in the puddles, watching raindrops bounce off flower petals, & ran through the gardens as the storm raged outside, & I joined you / eventually the clouds parted; warm rain stopped falling & the sun returned from behind the clouds, warm sun in the humid air in lush dark green garden, & the flowers were still dancing
