Welcome to Naked week!
NAKED – without the customary covering, container, or protection; bare, exposed
I’m so not ready for this post! My daughter is home sick from school, I’m in the middle of several big projects… and on and on. It is my customary way to “suck it up” get stuff done and never even mention that there may have been a difficulty. However it is NAKED week and this means I shall endeavor to uncover it all!
Somehow I confused Tamara with our line up so she sent me a photo for “Courage” (which is next week) so I just went over to her Facebook page and grabbed a “Naked” photo (and even named it!) We are good enough friends that I know she will be ok with this but it isn’t the way I prefer to operate! LOL but naked here I stand!
January has also tossed us something new! She has invited her friend, who shared her poems last week, to become a regular contributor here at Bliss Habits (You’ll see her Bio added at the bottom.) January suggested she step aside but I invited both to stay. Is this potentially too much poetry (can there really be such a thing?) or will I (we?) decide to do something different? I really don’t know but for now let us try having it all! Please let us know in a comment what you think!
And now that all my naked thoughts have been shared, let us get back to our post! Like Tamara’s gorgeous photo the stripped bareness of my preamble allows for the promise of something more. Naked, what gifts can it foretell?
Naked
by January Handl
She slipped off the armor
that she had carried since
early early days
when it was needed
in order to survive
the vulnerability
of a mish-mash childhood
She loosened the mask
that was deemed necessary
by a culture that didn’t
allow cracks in a veneer
Of “fine”
of “OK”
of “doing well, thanks”
She pried a few bricks from the
fortressed heart wall that always
felt heavy
even on the days when
Love’s sunshine tried
to lighten the shadows
Of fear,
worry
and pain
Feeling lighter and lighter
and also,
more and more naked
to her true core,
her breath filled her lungs
in ways they haven’t known
since her very youngest times
when
wailing
was allowed
Wind began to flow through
in gentle breezes and
gracing gusts
and knowing that the possibility
of mortal wounds will always wait,
she took courage in the
sense of truth
of beauty
of alive-ness
that was hers at this moment.
Biology Lab
by Penny Vieregge
Devoid of flesh Each naked bone sings the
Perfection of
Function.
While I, like Euclid, gaze on
Beauty
Bare.
Yes NAKED. Bare and open. Honest and real. This week our Bliss Initiative is to shed that veneer that keeps us from being all here. Pretty and perfect is not the calling. Naked beauty is ours when bare.
How Naked will you be getting this week?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tamara , our photographer, and January and Penny, our poets, are here each Monday to help set the mood for the week!
Tamara Magnitsky
Tamara Magnitsky, a child of the wild blue yonder,
has been an ardent student and advocate for poetry, photography and excellence in general.
She is the mother of a daughter and a beloved wife.
She can be found most days.
Bio written by Cary Brosius ~Tamara’s husband 🙂
January Handl
January Handl is first and always a mother, has been a preschool teacher and parent educator for 25 years. She is currently the Director/head teacher at Gazebo Park School, and lives at Esalen Institute in Big Sur. She lives simply in awe of existence.
She calls her photo “hot tub bliss” 🙂
Penny Vieregge
Penny Vieregge is a long time Big Sur resident with her caring touch in many arenas, from tutoring children at the local elementary, volunteering at the health center, playing piano on Sundays up at the hermitage, or teaching health and safety/first aide to preschool children at Gazebo Park School. She earned her BA from College of the Pacific, majoring in Speech and early education as a minor. Poetry is written in her bones.