Owls
In Your Bones, Poem 9
“…when I finally…let loose the casket of wasted bones I’m tempted to carry.”
The inspiration for this poem…
This poem was originally entitled “Hypervigilance” but the poet in me kept seeing the luminescent eyes of the owl, which says it all. Anyone with PTSD knows all too well what it feels like to always be on the lookout with big eyes for any hint of danger. It is a hard habit to break, even after you have been in a safe place for a long time (and/or had some good therapy). The owl pellets we dissected in school were perfect little packages of all the owls didn’t need. Such a poetic reminder how even owls get to let go and not carry everything. They get to close their hypervigilant eyes, and rest like everyone else. We can learn a lot from them.
Writing/Meditation Prompts:
Sit in silence and think of an animal that embodies something significant for you to learn from or embrace? Watch it move through its environment. Drink in what you notice and appreciate about them.
Write something in honor of that animal (i.e. some thanks, a warning, a description…)
What keeps you up at night? What makes you feel like you need to be on 24 hour watch, or have eyes in the back of your head??
What can you accept that you do not need to be in control of…that you will be okay letting go of?
Are you carrying around something useless that is heavy, and yet, tempting to carry?
What can you completely wrap up and drop out of your life forever?
Could you draw or find an image to hang on to- what about the animal you meditated on (writing isn’t the only super power here!)?