I love this essay, Emily. It resonates with me for so many reasons. As I am getting older, I think about how to live in this world that seems increasingly fragile. I find myself skimming headlines and reading articles about art, books, food. I have been writing more observations, those things right outside my house. A friend told me she is trying to be kinder, and I too want to be that person. Thanks for your writing, it helps.
Thank you so much for this, Valerie. I really appreciate what you shared, and that desire to focus on being kinder resonates deeply with me. I’m glad to know that this helps. Your poems are helping me, too 🩵
I stayed as a student at a zen center for about a week a few years back. I told the woman in charge of visiting students that I felt guilty taking the time for this quiet contemplation. I am an advocate meant to be in the world, I told her. I’ve since complicated what being an advocate means for me personally, but I have never forgotten what she told me: “Someone must tend to the tree we are sitting under so that you can go out into the world to do the work you are called to do.” I love this idea that tending to quiet, restorative spaces is just as important as the active labor of building a better world. It’s made me less self judgmental about stepping away - stepping away to return.
I’ve reread this essay a number of times since you published it. It resonates so deeply and all I can say is thank you for putting words (and suggesting coping strategies) for this difficult season. I feel keenly that my focus needs to change from the panic treadmill of news and despair to some kind of restoration of spirit. This helps give some framework for a start.
Thank you very much for reading and sharing this, Violeta. I'm happy to hear that this essay gives you a start for making your own framework. Solidarity! and much love to you <3
I use Twitter (just can't call it X) to follow poets, FB to follow actual friends & relatives, & I leave the rest behind. I may watch MSNBC a bit too much, but I've learned to push away when I feel my anxiety level becoming too toxic & destructive. Muriel Ruykeyser's poem was unsettlingly fresh & current, timely. Timeless? It isn't easy to balance the need to know & the need to be tender with oneself...
I love this piece, Emily! You are so ambitious for your "retreat-in-place." I have also been "allergic" to the news--as one commenter put it below--since the election. I think that we had a moment of collective madness before that day, when we all believed that if we just *paid enough attention* we could somehow avert disaster. But human nature is so complicated, isn't it?
The heroine of my coming-of-age novel (that I've been working on since our days at Bennington together and that I'm revising one more time in the hopes that it will finally feel "finished") thinks about your question all the time--is it okay to retreat and be a poet scribbling away in her room, or does she have to be an activist like her distant parents? Can she be both? And if so, how? Thanks for adding so much wisdom to the conversation in my/her head.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Rachel! I really appreciate your close reading of this and I'm glad to hear that it resonates with your heroine (and you!) it's so tough to thread this needle. Maybe just wrestling with the question is what matters most, and the how comes after...<3
Before this recent election, I was listening to several news podcasts a day. Since the election, I've become allergic to the news, even just the daily briefings make me feel bad. So I've replaced my morning news podcasts with inspirational podcasts from Gabby Bernstein and Tara brach, then at night I put on a comedy podcast or netflix standup while I'm cooking or doing housework.
I love this essay, Emily. It resonates with me for so many reasons. As I am getting older, I think about how to live in this world that seems increasingly fragile. I find myself skimming headlines and reading articles about art, books, food. I have been writing more observations, those things right outside my house. A friend told me she is trying to be kinder, and I too want to be that person. Thanks for your writing, it helps.
Thank you so much for this, Valerie. I really appreciate what you shared, and that desire to focus on being kinder resonates deeply with me. I’m glad to know that this helps. Your poems are helping me, too 🩵
I stayed as a student at a zen center for about a week a few years back. I told the woman in charge of visiting students that I felt guilty taking the time for this quiet contemplation. I am an advocate meant to be in the world, I told her. I’ve since complicated what being an advocate means for me personally, but I have never forgotten what she told me: “Someone must tend to the tree we are sitting under so that you can go out into the world to do the work you are called to do.” I love this idea that tending to quiet, restorative spaces is just as important as the active labor of building a better world. It’s made me less self judgmental about stepping away - stepping away to return.
Thank you for sharing this—that feels like such deep wisdom. I really appreciate this.
thanks for this thoughtful essay em. lots to think about as we try to remain calm, collected, effective and loving in these messy, fucked up times. xo
Thanks, Jojo! sending you solidarity and love and a big hug up north xo
I’ve reread this essay a number of times since you published it. It resonates so deeply and all I can say is thank you for putting words (and suggesting coping strategies) for this difficult season. I feel keenly that my focus needs to change from the panic treadmill of news and despair to some kind of restoration of spirit. This helps give some framework for a start.
Thank you very much for reading and sharing this, Violeta. I'm happy to hear that this essay gives you a start for making your own framework. Solidarity! and much love to you <3
I use Twitter (just can't call it X) to follow poets, FB to follow actual friends & relatives, & I leave the rest behind. I may watch MSNBC a bit too much, but I've learned to push away when I feel my anxiety level becoming too toxic & destructive. Muriel Ruykeyser's poem was unsettlingly fresh & current, timely. Timeless? It isn't easy to balance the need to know & the need to be tender with oneself...
Thanks for this, Maggy! Rukeyser's poem felt timely/timeless to me, too. Eerily so. I appreciate how you name that balance—yes, not easy at all.
My friend Wendy always counsels: Be tender with yourself. I can't take credit for the concept!
I love this piece, Emily! You are so ambitious for your "retreat-in-place." I have also been "allergic" to the news--as one commenter put it below--since the election. I think that we had a moment of collective madness before that day, when we all believed that if we just *paid enough attention* we could somehow avert disaster. But human nature is so complicated, isn't it?
The heroine of my coming-of-age novel (that I've been working on since our days at Bennington together and that I'm revising one more time in the hopes that it will finally feel "finished") thinks about your question all the time--is it okay to retreat and be a poet scribbling away in her room, or does she have to be an activist like her distant parents? Can she be both? And if so, how? Thanks for adding so much wisdom to the conversation in my/her head.
Thank you so much for sharing this, Rachel! I really appreciate your close reading of this and I'm glad to hear that it resonates with your heroine (and you!) it's so tough to thread this needle. Maybe just wrestling with the question is what matters most, and the how comes after...<3
Before this recent election, I was listening to several news podcasts a day. Since the election, I've become allergic to the news, even just the daily briefings make me feel bad. So I've replaced my morning news podcasts with inspirational podcasts from Gabby Bernstein and Tara brach, then at night I put on a comedy podcast or netflix standup while I'm cooking or doing housework.
"allergic" is a great way to say it. Love Tara Brach! will have to check out Gabby Bernstein!
she’s all about manifesting and I have read most of her books