H. Hennenburg: human being, lover of truth and wonder, poet, woodworker, general serial craftsperson, traveller AND homebody, loves her family and friends (including the furry ones) and cherishes the great good fortune of having them.
Look beyond your stories
Your imaginings
Your interpretations of events
Look beyond what you think they see
When they look at you
Look for something new
Carry your ghosts
behind enemy lines
And drop them there
Look beyond human shame and indignation
And limitations of birth and time
Look beyond what you think you see
When you look in the mirror
Look for something true
Look for questions, not answers
Reality is in the possibilities
Not in that which has already been named
Forget what you know
You are here now
Even if all the world is a step behind you
You have a right to see
Fear is just a pioneer
Leading our way into undiscovered territory
Making of us children at the feet of a great storyteller
Where colour has no rules and form is open to interpretation
And the unexpected is the stuff of life
And the trail leads on as the story goes
And the artist knows what we fail to imagine
But the ground is broken
And the sun is high
And the first faces will break the chain of habitual seeing
And the pioneers will break their hold on the living
And no more will the roots of tyranny determine our destiny
Heart Open is the first in the “Out Loud” series of my spoken word poetry. Any time you see the above white and orange “Out Loud” logo, click play and have a listen.
Heart Open is about living a courageous devotion to love, vulnerability and freedom and recognizing these as inherent experiences that we all share.
The opening lines, “her heart is open / and mine is watching,” were born as I watched Alicia Keys perform on television. She sang and played, heart on her sleeve, and I felt how my heart had become guarded after a few solid years of consecutive illness, brain injury and personal loss.
I perceived in Alicia Keys’ expression and performance, the fullness of love for life she is capable of enjoying because she is willing to be vulnerable in her art, and I remembered! I remembered how to achieve that experience for myself.
It is a universal experience. A universal capacity to love. To choose love. To be love. To remember that love is life, and life is the point. I am grateful that we can learn, and relearn, from each other. Awaken, and reawaken, because we see ourselves in each other and we know in our being the power of love that unites us.
Heart Open
Her heart is open
And mine is watching
Her heart is open
And mine keeps stopping to see
‘cuz if it’s her
Then it’s me
And the deluge is gonna come
And the day I run?
Woman, that ain’t gonna happen
If I’m livin’, I’m laughin’
I’m soakin’ up the sun
I’m dancin’ in the rain
I’m centred
I’m solid
And I’m sane
And if you’re gonna hit me with rage
I will stand with the almighty
The all-knowing power
Of love
‘cuz if it’s in my heart
It’s in your heart too
Sweet symphony
Sweet simplicity
Sweet, sweet synchronicity
If it’s her
Then it’s me
Then it’s you
And yet does she awaken in me
A curiosity
For things I have not thought possible
And draws me out
To where open sits my heart
Surveying all that is unfamiliar
In these surrounds
And listening for the current that comes
To drown out a rhythm
Or create an entirely new time signature
This is her territory
Where a wanderer might just
Jump the tracks
And roll out a steel girded
Foundation for generations to come
Where one act of ferocious love for life
Inspires eyes wide open
In the genetic code
And she invites me into the cornea
Of that copious determination
That what can be
Is already done
And there is no other one alternative
To the path
Or the richness of its rewards
Kindness
Has arrived at this doorstep
An open playground beyond.
Withering brilliance
Falls away for truer light.
Predisposed to love as I am,
What choice do I have but to play?
For I am one
Who needs nothing but to be.
And every living thing
Moves inside the heart
That surrenders to freedom
That allows the wave of the unknown
To carry it aloft and untethered
Into new realms of possibility.
So I unzip my skin
And release the hounds
For their faith is inherent
As is my glee to follow.
Let it affect you
It is of you
Came from you
Hear what it has to say
Listen with an inward ear
Because no one is going to tell you truths like this
Feel it
Like it holds tomorrow in the palm of its hand
Because for all you know
It is the key to your every last breath
And your every wakeful passage into life
More life!
More stars and rivers and canyons – and love
More love to fill the chasm
That is space
That is everywhere
That is us
We are the passion that feeds life
When it spills forth from your mind
– from the love that is in your heart –
Listen!
It is there to affect you
It is there to protect you
To fill and project you
Because you are not alone
You are not all one
And the one
Is not all
Without you
Hear the coyotes yip and bay
As the night becomes a living thing
Under the ignited charge of their calling breath
A chorus united and moving as one
A chortling wave across the open land
Feel the tingling prick of electricity
The crisp chill of primal recognition
Scoring a vibratory channel
Through the brass of your teeth
The drum of your skull
The steel of your spine
Launching you from your place of comfort
Into your tribal home
Where there is no roof
And there are no doors
And we are hunted by the grip of our howl
It was a war-torn yesterday
Sometimes I still wake up
And forget to pray
Pray for the living
The souls who made it through
Pray for the dying of the fears,
The sacrifice that blew through us
Pray for the waters that rinsed us clean
Pray for the loss of damn near everything
So we can breath this fresh air
Sometimes I wake sad
Because I remember
Prayers are not requests
They are thank yous
And I still carry the scars of desperation that is wanting by nature
But in truth, in sweet everlasting truth,
I am desperate for nothing
I want for nothing, and never was I in need,
Because this love was in me all along
And these scars?
They are only reminders
That I am responsible
And when the day comes,
It has me holding hands with my sisters and my brothers
And I can feel the circuitry
I can taste the music on my tongue
And we stand in this circle
And we pray for this fire that lights our faces
And ignites our smiles
And gives us the gift of each other
We pray for the morning
We pray that our hearts have won
We pray that we are not singular,
But one
And “I” is not a burden
We must bear anymore
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