A PALM TREE - Living to Endure

“Welcome to my OUTER SPACE Blog where I share ideas and personal experiences even some art and writing samples.

OUTER SPACE THREE

-- This poem is one of my own – called Palm Tree which you might think is not a place but a thing – to me it is a place deep within ones self. I think when you’ll read it with an open mind, you’ll understand what I mean. I wrote this when I was at a youth center called the door where I attended group during the day and worked in the art gallery and ran arts workshops at night. I was still homeless at the time so finding a calm place within myself to be was crucial to my internal & external survival.

A PALM TREE - Living to Endure

I am a palm tree; A perfect blend of past, present and future, I love storms; They’re exciting; Within them I am alive - Because they are within me; And as such become a force for beauty; Reaffirming my resolve to strengthen the trunk of my spine --

So that it bends in such weather, Dancing with the wind about one's soul's circumference to keep from breaking; So that as my roots dig yet deeper, further into the soil of a wretched past; My palms reach upward caressing heaven's aura --

To bless the wings of gulls stooped in prayer; Seeking to envelope the future, my future; My world expands beyond the light; As I see, I see that one begets the other - And growth is not an accident. Neither is wholeness; But a real journey from the earth's very core - out into the universe -- My universe, my journey, my core; And pain is just one of my many, many teachers.

This too is about the home I created for myself as an adult in spite of all that pain and trauma. I think this poem elaborates on the theme of having a place inside that is your home. When the poem says “ So that as my roots dig yet deeper, further in the soil of a wretched past; My palms reach upward caressing heaven’s aura – To bless the wings of gulls stooped in prayer”to me and for me that says I am rooted – I have balanced and grounded myself where I stand despite of all the turmoil swirling all around me. Referring back to the Storms both outside and within me I hold fast to a place like a Palm Tree.

When it says I am “strengthening the trunk of my spine so that it bends in such weather, Dancing about one’s soul circumference to keep from breaking”. I am clearly holding fast to a place deep within whatever I can find for myself to not be swept away by the torrent which is the elements and events of my life as they are unfolding in front of me both good and bad be it homelessness, or success at some of my endeavors. They each hold the potential of unengaging or unhinging you from your path – your goal if you will – if you let them.

When I say My world expands beyond the light. As I see, I see that one begets the other and growth is not an accident. I am acknowledging that the act of doing this is a willful attempt at growth and when I say Neither is wholeness -- But a real journey from earth’s very core out into the universe – I am speaking again about grounding myself in an unambiguous way – unfractmented in an obligatory way over a long extended period which requires patience and dedication that engulfs me – so I must be fully committed to my future expansion as a human being.

My universe, my journey my core; And pain is just one of my many, many teachers. Speaks to the variety of events that happen within my life that bind me to that place of growth in the midst tremendous upheaval.

How does this compare to the life of a real Palm Tree? I think it more than illustrates how they behave in the various weather conditions specifically hurricanes, tornados and storms we have increasingly in this country. But of course, all this is metaphorically speaking.