Unburden yourself
Do you know something no one else knows? Practice it until you make it a song that sings you. Don't pin your silence to a board. It's okay to leave and come back differently. Don't tie your heart to a timid life.
The image above is mine but the words are not. This gathered poem is the ninth in a series of combistories. My invented word riffs off Albert Einstein’s notion of combinatory play, which I learned about from Nicole Breit. As Nicole explains it, the idea is to take two unrelated things, bump them together, smush them around, stand back and see what happens. Play with that.
I’ve been having fun playing with five unrelated things.
This week’s combistory was made of five sentences in articles, poems or posts I came across online. In order of presentation, the five authors are:
Elizabeth Smart, quoted by Shawna Lemay on Transactions with Beauty and paraphrased by me
Sue Monk Kidd in The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, quoted in a gorgeous post by Robyn Gordon
Robert Okaji in his poem The End of Something
Orly Avineri in a blurb about her video The Unburdened Journal
Samantha Reynolds, You Are Made of Durable Magic on bentlily
I love all of these pieces, but as a very novice altered book maker / art journaller, I was enthralled by Orly Avineri’s video. She takes an art journal she undoubtedly spent a lot of time making and drags it through the ocean and down a gravel road, and then takes it apart and makes something new from it. It’s a wonderful visual metaphor for not letting the past constrain us. As Elizabeth di Grazia of WordSisters says, every day can be a do-over.
Follow my links, if you have time for delight. That’s the point of this combinatory play.
4 Responses to “Unburden yourself”
‘Don’t tie your heart to a timid life…’ Oh my, Leslie! That will sit with me for a long time. Thank you.
That’s how I feel about it too, Liezel. Thanks for reading.
“Don’t pin your silence to a board.” I love this – all of it. Beautiful.
That line comes from Robert Okaji – his work is amazing! Thanks for visiting my blog. Leslie