The Morning After

A poem & a check in

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The Morning After

Disbelief. Despair. Outrage.

It is the cat's purr I lean toward this morning, 
the way he gets right up close to my face, 
nose to nose, nibbles ever so gently—
as if coaxing me back to breath. 

But it is not comfort I want this morning after, 
it is permission to 					     
							      rage—
to let the rage burn 
burn burn some more. A roaring
inferno of rage.

And after it burns for as long as it needs to, 
I will remember how 
to breathe again—

and then my hand will reach
for yours, and from the ashes 
we will rise howl roar love our way bigger—

Undoubtedly. Guaranteed. Only for sure.

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Go gently today, don’t hurry or think about the next thing. Walk with the quiet trees, can you believe how brave they are—how kind? Model your life after theirs. — (Words from my poem The Cure for it All)

Dear, beloved readers,

Wherever you are today, however you are feeling, I send you so, so much love.

What a time.

In the poet Chelan Harkin’s words:

It’s in times when division is fierce
That we must reach for each other
And hold each other much
Much tighter.  

Please fill yourself full so you can be one of the helpers rather than one of the hurters.

This world so urgently needs helpers—fierce warriors of LOVE who can not, will not, be quiet. The voices of love must be louder than the voices of fear.

Truly, everything depends on it.

Speaking of love, infinite thank yous to those of you who have sent your beautiful messages of love my way. In this time of grieving the loss of my beloved Lucky Blue, and so many other things, your kindness has been such a beautiful comfort. Thank you.

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A few logistics…

I wanted to let you know that I have dropped the price of my paid subscription. If you are already a paid subscriber, I thank you so very much.

Unfortunately, I am unable to change your subscription amount to the lower price, but please know that if you are paying monthly & would like to cancel and resubscribe at the lower price that is very much an option for you.

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Also, I plan on posting more often on my Substack page, but I don’t want to overwhelm your inbox so I will not be emailing every post.

If you would like to receive more of my poetry & ponderings, invitations to write yourself free, you will want to subscribe to my Substack page (free or paid) so you can access those more regular writings.

Thank you for being a part of my community. Your support means the world to me.

Love, love, and more love,

Julia