Experiment
Release one of your anxieties. Try.
Lift up from it slowly, as you would pry
cold fingers from a steering wheel.
Are you willing to experiment, to feel
a practiced fear floating like smoke
away from you. We get nervous, provoke
in ourselves the jitters, the shakes.
We wince at the noise a siren makes,
avoid speaking to an entire room
of people we have not met, consume
ourselves with concerns over pets,
traffic, kids, money. The body digests
muscle if it is worked and not fed.
Anxiety strengthens anxiety. Instead
of anticipating fear, could we carve
away what eats at us, allow it to starve.
Oh, that opening! You've captured anxiety so well.
ReplyDeleteAnd what a memorable line this is: "The body digests/ muscle if it is worked and not fed."
This needs to be immortalized in needlepoint. I love it.
ReplyDeleteThis is such incredibly good advice. I am going to print it out for myself and my husband...xoxo
ReplyDeleteYes, allow it to starve.
ReplyDeleteI need to print this big and put it one my wall.
ReplyDeletethea.
xx
An interesting notion. I wonder...?
ReplyDeleteOh, so very true. This should be woven into a three-foot long sampler, Hannah. It would just fit the space above my desk and I would see it every time I looked up.
ReplyDelete