Cynthia's Impressions

Cynthia is a writer, editor and life coach who helps people explore, express, and expand their lives through workshops and individual coaching. A collection of her poetry, The Luminous In-Between, was published in 2016. Orinda, CA

Expressions: Poetry and Insights

Poetry and insights introduction: As my eyes of wonder opened during EOA, the poem Scaffolding grew out of my joy of being aware that I was walking through a living, breathing forest structured by hidden complexities and invisible strands of interconnectivity.

Unmute flowed from my experiences in Council practice, which helped me to become more attentive and responsive to the whispers from my own heart. EOA offers beautiful opportunities to express our truth as it exists in the moment and to have it witnessed with love and respect by others. For me, there is nothing more empowering and healing. Unmute is a tribute to that process.

Scaffolding

one strand of spider silk
stretching from oak to oak
shimmers with sun spectra
shivers above leaf leather

a thread
thinner than breath
lighter than thought
holds the trees erect

I bow my head
and duck under it
honoring the architecture
from which
the woodland is woven

Unmute

I ponder the barriers that keep me from full-hearted loving, full-bodied living, and full-throated speaking, the protective encasement that prevents me from singing the self-song so easily sung by the birds, the cactuses, the frogs, the redwoods, the dung beetles and the earth itself.

Muting must now take its place in the past. Time is of the essence for all of us to sing our song loudly and unapologetically in challenge to the forces of silencing. My voice, our voice, has never been more needed.

And when we risk being heard, speaking up when it’s difficult, most often others don’t run away. They pull their chairs closer to be moved by vulnerability; they lean in to hear the clear voice of vision; they crane to comprehend the wisdom that flows from an unimpeded moment. That’s when we touch treasure, when words ring with truth, when we hear the song that is both the messy human experience and the sublime human transcendence.

We must speak the difficult words, feel the orphaned emotions, plumb the depths of our fears and shames and griefs and sing a hallelujah chorus made up of their notes, for they are the bass line of our life’s sacred canticles.