A Poem of Intention

This is the year
I am here for more
in the Now of the Now of the Now
in this moment
of boundless possibility

This is the year
beyond the year
I looked back
on me, saw
the bound feet
the bowed down spirit
the shackled wrists
the fettered mind

The prison of imposed
impossibilities, the you can’ts
you shouldn’ts, what will
others think, the what ifs,
the buts, the no’s

I had to step away
from the well-lit paths,
remove the weight
of worry and doubt
unleash the restless
hands that cry

Look up
to the darkened sky,
the wheeling stars,
Look out
to the expanding
universe, expanding, expanding,
tethered to nothing we know,
nothing we can imagine

And in that space
I see room for me
to grow, to explore, to become
my calling

It’s time to break up
break out break away
from the expectations of society
the demands of work, the
fears of mothers

Loosed from the past

I approach the font of wisdom
drink from the unending well
of creativity, dine at the spring
of the eternal mind

go forth

become
the woman
the poem
               the I am
                              of my own life.

                                                            Janell Strube 1/6/2024