Category Archives: Freedom

Ready

I am ready for a life of love and joy flowing

I am puing down he angst and walking away .

In the creative process I am transformed and this piece I feel it is especially evident . It had a bit of a roughg start and as I layered colors and in some areas removed color it came to life beautifully .

https://www.blurb.com/b/11671336

Healing Our Hunger

Imagery and Poetry for Ending Food Insecurity

By Barbara L. Chapman

Freedom to Be with Gentle Breezes and Birdsongs

The air is refreshingly cool this morning even though the sun is bright . I savor and relish in this mornings when I don’t have to go rushing off .

The morning quietness is a freedom all its own . Freedom from the harsh sounds of this world’s man made demands . Freedom society’s pushes and pulls . Freedom from the dictates of ego and one’s not your own .

Awakening gently into a new day of birdsongs dancing through the air and with light , cool breezes ever so subtly caressing the awakening joy of the freedom to just be .

The toils and turbulence of yesterday’s work day are nearly gone and in its place a quiet, deep peace .

What is freedom if it is not to awaken every day knowing that you can be who your are .

Gentle breezes and birdsongs and loving contemplation is my freedom today .

Water’s Edgde

Calls to the soul at waters edge ,

she welcomes what we are beyond our present knowing .

Calls to what we know as wildness is freedom in the space of grace .

Calm and reflective waters flow and all the while wild winds blow .

And in this moment of aloneness is the timeless connection to all life .

Calls from the heart, songs in the soul and hymns from the sea are in harmony .

And in every breath carried to the stars are dreams of love for evermore .

Space for New Dreams

The light is delicate tonight and the breezes cool. Someone not too far away is

listening to a soprano singing opera . The sounds drift faintly in the air as I watch the

evening light dance with with shadows before calling it a night .

It’s the sort of peaceful , summer night that soothes the soul and invites a restorative

rest .

New dreams are given space to arrive in the subtle , warm glow of the setting sun .

The Winter’s Dream

The longest night has come and the light slows it’s beating heart . Rest into your dreams and warm your spirit with peaceful twirls turning into sleep .

The longest night has come and brings promises of new light . Lean into the winter’s darkness and feel the quiet inside of your heart’s sight .

The longest night has come and sings lightly to awaken your patience and creates stirrings of hope .

The longest night has come and invites you warm yourself in a blanket and to tenderly create visions of whats to come .

Giving Birth to a New USA

On the very day that we laid to rest one of our  greatest human rights leaders of our time this :

I am a mom to a compassionate ,  intelligent young woman .  Her kind and giving heart stands up for injustices against those with less privilege  . People  that suffer because of having  less privileges  and opportunities  simply because of the color of their skin .  I am of the same heart  and mind as my daughter .  Since early in my youth I have felt the call to stand up for human rights , protesting peacefully , writing  letters to legislators , volunteering  and …listening .  And today my daughter faced the ugliness of hatred  because  of her values and principles   . She has Black Lives Matter written on the  back window of her car . She has other pro human rights sentiments  on her window as well .

Today , of all days ,  someone  chose to threaten her life because of it . A man chose to follow her off of a freeway exit , he sped up along side of her and turned  his vehicle inwards towards  her car  as if to ram her and to force her off of the road .  A life threatening action that could  have been catastrophe with   irreversible results .  And all because he did not like her opinions . He violently opposed her  values . His risked her  life as well the lives of others by his actions .

Here we are America . Threatening each other  over human rights . Over what it means to be considered a human being .  Wiling to end another persons life because she or he stands up for social justice .  It’s time to give birth to a new USA .

The process is painful .  My hope is that what is taking place now with the violence against peaceful protests and individuals  is like the birthing process .  It is  a struggle . It is painful and it is violent . And at the other side of it a more just , equitable  and compassionate country .

The people fighting against the changes have caught the disease of hatred and fear . Desperation  has taken hold of them .  They are entangled within their own chains . How might we set them free from the hate ?

In the darkness of such hate we must be the light .  Carry a peaceful heart and in the words of Mr.Lewis ” make  good trouble ” .

 

 

The Man in the Tower Hiding

A comet soaring through the sky  wishing  away worries from the earth below .

It’s only for  moment .

Fires of the quest for justice burn ….and burn .

And those few that are untouched and are  so far away from the pain just scold .

And blame .

The man in the tower hiding  the darkness behind false  whiteness   steals souls and

glows red .

And tosses raw flesh to his spectators .

Unrealized is the relentless power of the will to do right . It won’t stop .

The birth of reawakening in the heart and spirit of  warriors  in our streets come

together as one .

This battle is not done .

 

Above the Gases

How to see through the smoke ?

Soldiers in streets uninvited ,  The people rising . Higher  than gases .

Division , is it’s fate to become unified ?

Human history as a recipe repeated .

We will take back our sovereignty .

 

Tears are Not Enough . Period .

Born white and free

and

in ways i did not see .

Until I became a latch key child  .

As I grew I rebelled against the white cocoon

and paid a price for it .

Not as dear  though as the price paid by African Americans

to simply live .

Or rather …not to live .

What good are my tears for you ? I must use my voice and body to join with yours .

Lead me through this battle with you

and

lets make lasting change .