Sounds 

What does stillness sound like

What happens when my mind and body are one

How do I speak of rest in a world that sees it as laziness 

Sees people as commodity 

And turns all our imagination into marketplace

What does my voice sound like without fear

How does healing look like…..sound like 

I was, I learn, I am 

I was always a girl, I remember always being happy

Always being  loved

Always being in community

Not seeing myself as an I but as a “we”

Always being confident

Always knowing I was special 

Always dancing 

My memories always have a soundtrack

Franco, Les Wanyika, Stevie Wonder 

I lost being a girl

I lost my world

Lost my ability to feel

My bubble suddenly was bursted 

Voices of love replaced by doubt, unkindness and cruelty

I lost my tears 

My body forgot how to cry

My body forgot how to feel 

My lack of feeling became my identity

I used my pain to rescue

I used my anger to call out 

I used my pain to build a wall 

I built a world where my brokenness became a shrine 

I am learning to create from joy

learning to see and feel joy

without my body finding discomfort 

learning to use this lens of ease 

this lens of rest

to build something beautiful 

I am learning to create from joy

after relying on pain for definition 

relying on pain to stay alive

relying on pain to hold my breath

I am learning to breathe

learning that I can create 

from the humming of birds 

create from the sound of laughter

listen to silent whisper in the rain 

create from the distinct delicious smell of the earth after rain hits the soil

I can do more that survive 

I am water

I purify

I nurture

I destroy

I tear down to build afresh 

I build foundations 

I mark boundaries 

I am here to remind us that we always have been 

I can be contained when I want to

I can burst open and overflow when underestimated

My knowledge runs deep

Deep calls unto deep

My intuition guides me 

My depth is misunderstood by those unlike me 

My treasure is undiscovered and always buried