Hi I'm Ashley and I'm so happy to be here with you reading poems.
So what is a night-blooming poem?
A night-blooming poem can be a burst of love,
Of healing,
Where you may least expect it.
A night-blooming poem can be a gentle flow of love,
Of healing,
That happens in a place of privacy and safety,
Secluded from the world.
I wrote these poems from a place of night-blooming and I hope as you listen you'll stay with your breath,
Letting it be comfortable in your body.
I invite you to notice what you feel in your body too as you listen.
This way we can have an embodied experience of listening to poetry and we can strengthen the mind-body connection.
Now these poems don't have titles so I'll pause in between and the poetry begins now.
I remember canoeing down a wide river as the sun set.
I was with a man I loved and we saw wild turkeys fly and after nightfall lightning bugs.
We found our way home by instinct,
Moonlight,
Memory,
Knowing the riverbank with our hands.
Today I found so many cattails in the grass,
Some of the most strange and beautiful plants I've ever seen.
And there was a heron too,
Steady as a cloud,
And a blackbird with hidden rainbows for wings flew past me.
It was an honor to stand alongside the grasshopper,
Fire orange and wonderful,
Shyly speaking its right to be here.
I remember walking on a marsh bank in the pouring rain.
A friend walked with me.
I was new to the Everglades then,
Not knowing the given name of any bird or grass.
But I understood the language of that rain,
Holding my body underneath storm clouds,
Cooling me,
Cooling us all,
Bringing relief.
My teacher tells me to place all of my hurt in a poem.
So I write of the wild orchids growing from a palm tree.
How glorious and unashamed they are in their interdependence.
Sometimes my heart shatters into a million pieces.
And when it does,
Sometimes I feel like the bird outside my window,
Doing what it must,
Lifting one twig at a time,
Patiently building a nest.
And I remember sleeping in a hut painted like the night sky,
Waking up to rain,
Walking in the swampy forest,
Warm.
We sat around the fire every night and gave thanks and made each other coffee in the mornings.
I'll never forget the way we all had something to offer over and over.
A love inside us regenerating.
Now that was the last poem for this reading.
So just take a few deep breaths and notice how you feel.
I thank you for listening to these night blooming poems.
And now I invite you to thank yourself for trying something new.
And as you go about your day,
I encourage you to keep any feelings of hope and peace with you.
And when your heart feels inspired,
Write your own night blooming poems.
I believe you can.
