@cantrellesque

Skunk spray, as if chicken pox wasn't enough.

In flight, between the horse and the shed.

Her head in a cow pie, 20 feet below my two feet on a branch.

The warming of sodium vapor in a high school gym.

Red lights with the driving instructor.

A not so gentleman pressed too close on the metro.

Attending the speech before my own.

The top of an inhale under a star shower.

Second floor San Francisco sway.

The gentle brimming of a porcelain bowl.

French press and hand rolls in a kitchen without a clock.

Stop sign shift, in my "nice car."

The creep toward release of exam results.

Misplaced boronia beckoning me home.

The silence after unexpectedly broken silence.

A glowing cloud rushing before the moon.

incapacitate you in as little as 8 seconds.

Put your oxygen mask on first.

Or possibly not at all.

That's the most extreme example, but 

you must always care for yourself first.

No one is suggesting you throw your young 

at predators to cover your escape.

But you must live first 

in order that others may live.

So figure out the keys to your health,

find a way to honor your body,

wake up your mind, bitch,

Not too quick, or so slow to stall.

You know it's right as it slips in,

Smooth and easy, naturally.

Where is my breath?

Not where I strain,

But into the support,

Lifting, shifting, growing.

I am the moon, or maybe her daughter,

aspiring to her graceful crescent.

Push the hip, pull at the wrist, and

Everything else gracefully bent.

Standing among so many trees,

hand in prayer at the altar of life.

Straight trunks, espaliered knees,

form a swaying community grove.

The door opens and the heat rushes out.

The cool air ghosts through me, 

enlivening my body, beginning with my skin.

in the spa sauna.

Don't look around,

just be a queen.

If that feels good,

you can conquer the world.

What are you waiting for?

I rest in stillness, but

And I find myself in motion.

Distancing myself from should,

I begin to notice gilt and blush.

The entrance to the woods looms,

a shadowed tunnel between worlds.

Slipping in countless times

I still feel the shiver of unknown.

Enveloped within seeming stillness

the familiar warmth embraces me.

I pass through with loving care

attending each sound and subtle movement.

Smiling, I lead my shadow,

limned in the dusky loam.

Illuminated with each reverent step,

pleased with my earthy passage.

With soft sighs, I emerge.

while you watch and wonder

why you can't do the same.

You protect my spreading space

with every taught fiber, and

heartbreak lines your face.

One day I know you will realize

with earn'd and stolen moments

Everyone within arms' reach is thinking of you.

Uncertainty is one of the uncomfortable feelings. Every moment with it feels like labor. It comes in waves, demands everything of your being, and requires steady breathing.

Uncertainty is life. Will you numb yourself to your role as creator? Blotting out your part in the birth of the future? Find your strength and allow yourself to become mother to the unknown.