"If you don't understand yourself, you don't know anybody else."       —Nikki Giovanni

dear friends,

i am grateful to be writing you from this first day of libra season, truly a season of the scales. a celebration of balance.

in the spirit of balance, i am taking time off from writing poems, performing poetry, or teaching classes until the spring equinox of 2021. in the beautiful, transformative 5+ years since i first took a typewriter out on a cold night on the olympic peninsula, i have experienced much wonder & magic. & i am also in deep need of resting my creative spirit.

for those of you who have not seen it, i wanted to share this magical video made by meghan mcdonough and alex morrow. it was filmed 2+ year ago in a world that no longer exists. in a world with covid, & increasingly emboldened racism, & wildfire smoke, all of which choke the lungs, being a typewriter poet on the street is no longer a viable option for me. i am grateful for this beautiful capturing of what that journey was like.

i am thrilled to be taking a sacred sabbatical, one that i hope will undam the flow of my creativity, my channel from the source, will fill my well. never fear, if you are currently one of my students, a patron on patreon, or have an order pending from my store, i am still very much attentive to your needs, though perhaps at a slower pace.

i am taking a leaf out of the book of the nap ministry, a project started by a Black woman that proclaims “rest as resistance.”

“Rest is a form of resistance because it disrupts and pushes back against captialism and white supremacy.”
—The Nap Ministry

lastly, i have pulled a card for you for this season from my deck “blood gold and honey”. may it serve you in the months to come as the days grow darker & colder in this northern hemisphere. the deck, of course, provided the perfect answer as we complete our harvests & prepare to lie fallow.

god of gold

master of the firm yet malleable metal scepter. skin gilded, crown unneeded: the king knows no want. desire reverberates through every cell anyways but this is not sex with midas. less is more. enough is too much.

rituals & rites

melt down the 24 karat wedding trousseau of an indian bride in an arranged marriage. tiny rubies glitter like scarab beetles’ eyes among the cooling alloy. wrap the misshapen metal in bloodstained 10000 count ivory nuptial sheets.

sending warmth and wellness for your season ahead,

• afrose

Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash