writer ∞ artist ∞ musician • Author of Odes to Lithium & Be/Hold: A Friendship Book • Founder of @insurreallife (she/her/hers)
Feb 28, 2021 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
Yesterday I heard a renowned Buddhist teacher speak about being in the hospital for serious heart surgery. During his 2 week stay, many dear friends––all Buddhist teachers––visited him. He described how well-meaning, but ultimately useless, their spiritual advice was to him.
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"Everyone was trying to guide me into 'you'll feel better tomorrow...." Tomorrow, tomorrow. If I relax into my body... If I notice my breathing... Etc. Etc.
But his body was barely feel-able to him. He was hooked to a ventilator, so noticing his own breath was impossible.
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Jul 11, 2020 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
My mentally ill kin, if u could rename your illness, what would you name it?
I'm thinking about how Bipolar Disorder or Manic Depression both focus on a binary that doesn't always encompass the experience. Im thinking, if I broke out of that language, what would I name it?
Today my therapist genuinely asked me to describe my illness as if we didnt have a mutual name for it. It was really beautiful, really freeing, to be trusted to speak from such an interior place. The invitation to shake the chrysalis of language, to uncocoon. So intimate & rare.
May 19, 2019 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
As a writing teacher I always emphasize: Im weary of endings. I don’t want anything wrapped up too neatly. Launch me into the unresolved. Steep me in a messy stew. Get life on my clothes, my hands. Be weary of your own pen as you tilt toward what you feel is an ending. Tilt back.
Listen instead, like a vulture circling carrion. Listen, listen, spinning circles around your poem. What is my distance teaching me? What happens when I don’t dive in to what is obviously there? How do the clouds feel against my wings? Is ambiguity a cage, or a door?
Feb 2, 2018 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
I teach writing. A lot. & If I had to distill the lesson that comes up the most it would be:
Sensuality > Concepts
Sensuality > Concepts
Sensuality > Concepts
Sensuality > Concepts
Sensuality > Concepts
Sensuality > Concepts
Sure, I'd like to know what you think about the world. But only if I can trust that you can invite me into the world: sense by sense. If you write "That year was really hard for me" I don't know what year it is, I don't know what "hard" means for you. Give me bone, give me break.
