These Days a Holding

These Days a Holding

Not fixing or solving or advising

or spilling

eager ‘make it all better’

unintentionally imposing onto

others, oneself

shame for feeling

all of the all

These days a holding

relinquish

making others feel fine so you can feel fine;

abandon  

the dismissal of sorrow

make more and more room for holding

sorrow, despair, grief, anguish;

Learn to do this kind of

holding

better, safer, braver;   

Ask others to hold

you

let them know

you are not seeking solutions   

but a holding

for

This shit is hard  

This shit is fucked up

 This shit is senseless and sense-full

 This shit is sad and sorrow full.

a 35 year old brother with cancer

an old high school friend dead in his sleep

a friend/colleague charged with four counts of sexual assault

Sisters dealing with deep heart ache:

breakups,

babies denied,

jobs wished for but never gotten;

daughters doubled with anxiety

mothers weeping alone in empty houses

These days a holding

maureen st.clair

Sculptures by Suse Ellen Lowenstein (from Dark Elegy)