One of my January reflection goals was to learn to love myself again. A part of that process has been making it a routine to listen to my body.
Listening to your body is a practice (and yes, sometimes it is hard + involves tissues <3 <3 <3). It means pausing to sit, breathe, relax the muscles in your face, neck, shoulders, all the way down to your toes. It means asking your inner self, “how do you feel” and “what do you need?”.
Topic Warning: Suicide and Depression
At the base of Mt. Fuji, there’s a well known Japanese forest known as Aokigahara or Jukai, which means “sea of trees.” The most popular name for it is the “suicide forest.” This is not a tourist destination, it is a mass grave. In what seems to be such a bleak place, there is a suicide patrol. One of the members is the focus of the documentary “Suicide Forest In Japan.”
Lyrics:
“Even In The Dark”
For those who work so hard
Never see their children
Never see their children grow
Into the gifts they give them
Yesika Salgado, also known as Yesika Starr, has the honor of being one of the few poets that can actually fuck me up with words. With the recent release of “Corazón,” her first book, I wanted to look back on other works from Salgado. “Sentimental Boss Bitch,” a chapbook, was self-published this year. It’s eighteen pages long. In those eighteen pages there’s love, joy, longing, pain, heartbreak and of course, learning how to be a sentimental boss bitch.
Lyrics:
When the knife finds you with your
Hands all tied and the silence holds the answers
I am blind for the for the sun that wets the eyes
Simple measure, emulator
And if you fight, I could be that
wonderlight with no guidance
Other than my happy days
Often climb when you’re ruined
With another
Hold me with your porcupine
While I catch on fire
Open letters grow the flowers
I know I got to let, let it go
Letting it go
I got to let, let it go
I know I got to let, let it go
Letting it go
I got to let, let it go
When the knife finds you with your
With your
With your
Hands all tied
And the silence holds the answers
I am blind for the for the sun that wets the eyes
Open letters grow the flowers
Letting it go
Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go
I know
Let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go
Letting it go
I know I got to let, let it go
Letting it go
I got to let, let it go
I know
I know
I know
I know
I know
I know
I know
I know