#8 words

3 words, 8 letters, say it and I’m yours.

Rules: Post the last line you wrote and tag as many people as there are words.

I was tagged by the lovely @amaradangeli - thanks very much.

Lucky for me, it's a short one!

As if this was all so fucking inevitable.

Yep. There you have it. Amazing stuff.

I tag @sharim28, @sophiehatt3r, @wackyjacqs, @3starjeneral, @samcaarter, @sudden-arboreal-stop, @amyj-10, @geri-lea and anyone else who wants to play.

~My Soapbox~ I don't get up on a soapbox often. I'm short, you think I'd feel the need to reach up here occasionally, but I just let you do you and me do me and leave the soapboxes for others. But as a pagan coming out of the broom closet to not only family and friends but to the world via social media... I need a soapbox for this one. Cultural appropriation - Oxford Reference A term used to describe the taking over of creative or artistic forms, themes, or practices by one cultural group from another. It is in general used to describe Western appropriations of non‐Western or non‐white forms, and carries connotations of exploitation and dominance. www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095652789 I've seen so many religions and races of every fiber yelping about this one. I've seen Pagan, Christian, Muslim, Asian, Native American, white, black, green, slighly ecru, and mutts yelling about it. I've been accused of it, and recently I read a blog with a 13 year old newly beginning pagan who wanted to do something she believed would keep a dark entity away from her little brother, but she was afraid to because she thought it wouldn't work because it was appropriated... and hence ~ my soapbox. Nothing in the world is original. Christianity, Buddaism, Paganism, Mythology, Spirituality, and every other indigenous religious movement has spread from the equator to the prime meridian and back again. Each culture has something that builds on another, changes it up, and makes it their own. Anyone remember Poeseidon & Neptune? Atremis & Diana? Aphrodite & Venus? Eros & Cupid & Saint Valentine? Heracles & Hercules? Selene & Luna? Who was wrong? The Greeks or the Romans? Neither, Because they did it their own way. God, Allah, Yahweh, El Shaddai, Jehovah... No one is appropriating because they use a different name or if they share. It just is. And it's not just religion! I can't line dance, I cant two-step, I can't waltz.. but I can shake my ass! Oops, I'm white? Am I appropriating? I'm a white (pasty) southern coonass from Louisiana. Does that mean I am required to be Southern Baptist and only cook Cajun food? Yeah, I can rock some gumbo and make a killer etouffee, but I make a mean tortilla soup and a decent stir fry too! A pretty awesome Puerto Rican kid I know taught me how to make pappas rellenas (and 'Im probably butchering that spelling.. Sorry, O'Malley!) and I taught her how to make a gumbo. It wasn't appropriated by either of us. IT WAS SHARED in love of both cultures with a loved one to spread the knowledge and love of food!! That said, if I want to smoke cleanse my house and use the word smudging, I will. I'm not appropriating it. How? you say.. because I can. You don't know my history. You don't know the years I spent learning within a Lakota Sioux tribe who taught me to smudge and never once told me it was smoke cleansing because I'm white. I can have a totem animal, not just because I think they're awesome (I do, and they are!), but because I earned one, but you didn't know that either. And I shouldn't have to explain myself to anyone! You should just mind your own. So don't tell me I'm appropriating. I'm practicing my personal beliefs and I'll call it whatever I damned well please. Don't belittle someone who wants to make her family safe and tell her she's wrong for cleansing her home, just because she called it smudging because it's all she knew. She wasn't "..carrying connotations of exploitation and dominance". I'm glad she went ahead and did it. Did it help? I don't know. But I know that in anything we do in our life, INTENT is what matters. I don't care what you're cleansing with, who you're praying to, or what you carry around to feel better. Smoke, smudge, Fabuloso, Lysol, God, Wakan Tanka, Zeus, Selene, Allah, grimoires, bibles, Korans, crystals, feathers, sticks, stones, jellybeans, or a fifth of Jack... whatever. You do you. Let me do me. Let them do them. And mind your own fracking business unless you're directly attacked. Pagan or not, THE WORLD needs these words. These Eight words the Rede fulfill: "An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will"

8 words // in his opinion // don’t have enough. 

what he means to say // wants to give you everything // every day, in every way.

if he had his druthers // clothes would be mixing // piles of laundry.

take the shirt off my back // button down black. 

he aches to do more // hopes it’s not whack // in everything, he still believes he lacks.

i got you // beautiful wild unkempt thing.

do yr duties // he’s fulfilled all he can do // in a day. 

take the forks and never return them // metaphorically sharing kitchen.

take my place next to dog // she’d rather lick yr face // that’s ok.                         makes him grin // playful jealousy to see pure joy between his ladies.

who the fuck needs stuff? // i’ve got you as my love.

hippie couple in spirit // we’re just caught in the cog. 

take the competition out // 12 days now. 

website stronger // categories developed, specified, ordered                                   portfolio particular // hell, even got an archer // logo longer.

365 // no one more devout to her talent // her passion. 

he’ll never take the place of camera,                                                     same way she cannot take the place of pen

still, he thrives, ascends, transcends, in her lens // good nights to him                            his words are best gift // he really has to give.

his mind constantly blown // so many subtle details to locate // every single photograph.

seeing yr face as you burn // determined as mountain sun rays // gives him one more reason to say // grace to jah for letting him live.

add his heart to that list of stuff you’ve got.

8 words // describe his heart.

what falls from his lips? // pathos // ethos // fuck logic.

stilted. twisted // picasso mangled.

flowing. hoping // angelou inspired. 

desperate. blatant // music lyrics.

rambling // grasping // pulling tangled mane.

what springs forth?                                                                                                art // love // art. 

Horses run with herds, birds fly with friends. This is advising people to befriend others. This is similar to English poet John Donne’s “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” (i.e., people are not meant to be alone).