Episode 36: Filling Your Arms

Hi everyone, I hope you’re doing as well as you can be this week. Our poem today is a Tanka, so it’s quite short. The Tanka is a Japanese form of poetry, usually a single unbroken sentence with 31 syllables. The number of lines, when these poems are translated into English, is typically 3-5 to spotlight the twist or turn in the last third or so of the poem. With the beginning of a new school year and the approach of fall, I wanted to create an episode that can serve as a sort of reminder/mantra to love and fill ourselves abundantly from the inside out, which, of course, allows us to offer rich and colourful love to others. 

I’ll share it with you now:

I offer you as many arms as a tree

& I pray you believe in enough 

to fill them 

with your leaves

instead of paper…

Breathe the words in. What do they make you feel or think? How did they connect with your senses? What colours or symbols did you notice? What meaning did you draw? Metaphors? Interpretations? Clarity? Messages?