Today I am finishing up the audiobook version of my poetry chapbook. Here’s the poem that inspired the title of the book.
Spring Cleaning
Like an onion
Peeling back the layers
Shedding tears
Dealing with the sorrows
Of the past.
One by one
As they surface
Now that you are in
A safe place
Like timid deer
They surface.
And others,
Like glowing eyes
Around a night campfire
These are the scary feelings—
You must deal with them, too.
Feelings just want to be felt,
Both good and bad,
And now that you feel them
And want to be well
Don’t rush them.
Or you will never have the pleasure
Of hand-feeding shy delights,
Or even see
Your fiercest, snarling caged memories
Set free.
It has been such a cost to contain them.
They may swipe at you
With their claws
When you let them out,
But you are stronger than they are.
Trust me.
Let them go.
Rage or anger
Sorrow or pain
They are only feelings—
When you finally feel
The bravery and desire to face them
Stop for a moment
And let them surface.
Then clear the former cage
Of feelings liberated,
Clean it with you tears,
And make it comfortable.
Be at ease with yourself.
Fill your former prison
With bright images and joy.
Now you can live with yourself
And perhaps,
If you put out a saucer of milk,
The house cat of contentment
May choose to live within you.
And if you
Plant a garden around your life
The pleasant feelings
May even poke their heads
Shyly out of the woods
And fill you with wonder.