some kind of flight
A generational malady that lives in the bones of those that came before me. One that bends and fights its way into every crevice of the body but does not break. How wonderful to have pain that you know can never defeat you. I know I can fall no further, yet I see no glass ceilings in my way. I’ve learned to fly.
- raw skin ( a book in progress)
Dragons Breath
I don’t want to say that one of us was stronger than the other
we both had our armor and breathed fire
but there was a soft underbelly to both of us
and we clawed till it gave way
Raw skin- a book in progress
Wild
Remember me as I am now
Not quite smiling but alive
Free
I want you to remember my wind whipped hair
And my sunburnt skin
I want you to remember my cuts and scrapes and my callused feet
I want you to remember I was a force of nature
I want you to remember
I was wild
-Raw Skin (a book in progress)
something you feel in your bones
a memory that will never fade
When my mom plays the piano. I can feel it in my bones. I feel the long drawn out notes bouncing around in my rib cage. The beat matching the beat of my heart and the pounding of my blood. The flow of the melody, like the quiet of my breath as I try to stop the world around me so that I can hear it all, listen, really listen. At that moment the music was more alive than I was.
-Raw Skin (a book in progress)
A conversation with God
“Is there hope in broken things?”
“Certainly more than in things that are whole-- For what is there to hope for if something is as it should be?”
“For things to stay the same?”
“There must be a better use for hope than that.”
-Raw Skin (a book in progress)
“Sailors delight”
a new painting and a new excerpt from my book
Wind in my sails
Moving with the breath of the earth
Unencumbered by fear and loss
To only gain
The wisdom of wind and water
A sailor
A surrender to what we cannot control
To harness the elements
To taste freedom
-Raw Skin (a book in progress)
A conversation with The Sun
I asked the sun how it felt to be a creature of fire
She said she knew she would burn out some day
That that's how it feels
Like burning out
-Raw Skin (a book in progress)
A call from nature
I love the trees. I can hear them.
They speak in whispers and wind.
A sacred sound, hollow empty of vanity or pride, noble.
The kings of the earth with their roots connected to everything.
Things make more sense to me beneath the trees. I am home, sleeping among giants. I am safe.
- Raw Skin (a book in progress)
Learning to slow down
When your life feels like it’s falling apart, you get to a point where you no longer exist, not how you used to. You’re not attached to the world. Your world becomes very small, breathe in, breathe out. in some ways, it’s simple, slow, something I had never liked much. before I was always on the move always running. once I was back on my feet that part of me screamed “It’s time to move!” Though I may not have been ready.
I was forced to slow down for so long and now I am learning how to… very different processes. I now take solace in nature and my art and I go back to something simple, breathe in, breathe out.
“Wind Dancer”
“It’s different
Running from something
That doesn’t chase you
maybe it’s time to stop”
“Sun Shadow”
new painting that I’m very excited about! a work of love
“Woman
Why do you say it like a dirty word
An insult
You say I was built for man
Constructed from a borrowed bone
I say I am a daughter of the sea and moon
I am a creature of water and air
And fire”
Raw Skin (a book in progress)
“The Sun”
One of my first portraits that started the idea of Just Peachy was “The Sun” I painted it after writing about how it felt to leave winter behind. now, being July, winter is long behind us and far in the future. But I wrote this at a time when I could still feel winter in my bones and winter felt far stronger than any spring. Each year I relearn how powerful spring is, a rebirth.
“I feel the sun on my skin
Like something holy
A cleansing of winters past”
