Welcome to the world

the great bazaar

a wild bizarre

where  you might hear some say that

"everything is for sale"

but life?

life is free.

forage it

plant it

harvest it

run with it

lay down with it

some even danced around as they burnt it

enslave it

ensnare it

hunt it

sacrifice it

but no matter what you might try

still,

this breath here

is free

was free

will always have been free

and when

in that long future from now

out amidst that space habitat

circling that dying red dwarf star

hundreds of light years from terra…

when "the man" in charge makes you pay for air...

remember that thorn

stuck in your soul

from that wild rose

she made to protect her hips

from such villainy

and that secret she kept alive

she knows the topography of belonging

the geography of our heart math

she holds fast to

the ways of air

water and light

and a home star that literally gave everything

for that sacred fire

for our sacred fire

sacred light

sacred life

back where they called once it

terra earth land ground wild wilderness

or, simply, home

so when you are lost

and the truth feels buried beneath great waves of digital virtualities

remember her prickly spring

her summer scent

and autumn sweetness

and life

as it should be

as it always was

as it always will be

free

[Inspiration for this poem occurred as we (Feathers + Tbird) were guiding the School of Lost Borders Summer Fast with Emerald North].

The Road Birds have returned, six weeks and multiple ceremonies celebrating life, love, and wildness in all its richness and depth. So grateful to be received by communities, near and far, and to have arrived home with new eyes and renewed love.

Happy 7th anniversary to us, too, feathers + tbird, celebrated by hiking deep into some new terrain and into a hidden alpine lake in the Cascades to take a sacred pause together. So grateful for our wild, awakening, and renewing love <3.

More regular weekly blogs to follow. Hope you all have had joy-filled summers.

In kindness,

tbird