There is hope in the path to peace
Plus, one week left to submit to Issue Five!
There is less than a week left to submit poetry and visual art submissions to Issue Five of the Recenter Press Poetry Journal! Submissions guidelines can be found here. Deadline is July 31st.
I have been spending more time alone in my studio lately. Twice in the last two weeks, I fell asleep before 8pm, slept until midnight, stayed awake for a few hours, and then slept again from 3:30am until 6:45am or so. I think I have been needing a lot of rest. Most days, I wake up telling myself, after work, I will go on a bike ride, or go to the gym, or go on a walk, or keep up the more rigorous exercise routine I had been on since December. By the end of the work day, a wave of slowness hits me and I am ready to crash. I feel disappointed because I know how much physical movement helps to increase my energy, mood, and self-esteem. But as I imagine many other people are feeling right now, my body and brain are a bit worn out at the moment.
The constant metabolization of major world events of course leaves an impact on the body. While I have not consumed any social media feeds in over 20 months now, and I am not being constantly bombarded with information and reactions, I do still stay in touch with the news through discussions with my peers and a few different podcasts. From the ongoing genocidal assault on Gaza that has left over 34,500 Palestinians killed and tens of thousands of more wounded, to the attempted Trump assassination, the instability of the Democratic Party, and the U.S.’ overall crises of legitimacy and lack of democratic processes from the ruling elites on both wings of the same beast, it is truly no surprise that so many people are feeling angry, confused, polarized, and alienated. Of course we feel that way. If we keep trying to make sense out of a system that doesn’t run on sense, that runs on war, wealth, and deceit to keep the whole thing going, we are going to be left feeling defeated. When I accept that I can’t try to make sense out of something that is inherently senseless, that is rotten to the core and needs more than this Democratic candidate, or that Republican candidate, I feel more peace in knowing that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice (Rev. Martin Luther King Jr).
There is hope in movements for peace. There is hope in working class unity across parties and political lines. There is hope in the commitment to truth, even when that truth is hard to find.
“For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.” — Luke 12:2-3
I am currently reading Liberated Love by Mark Groves and Kylie McBeath, and Live No Lies by John Mark Comer.
I’ve been doing a lot more journaling, watching, and listening than reading lately. I’ve been working with a mentor to create long-term dating boundaries for myself, and going through a period of complete dating abstinence while I work on addressing some recurring dating patterns in my life. I’m two months in to this period of abstinence, and this temporary retreat has been immensely beneficial for me so far. I wrestled with this idea for many months before I mustered up the willingness to take a very intentional retreat from partner-seeking in any form (because what??? I have been single for 3 1/2 years…). But, I have been very stuck in my patterns still, and so far, this retreat from the pursual of validation / attention-seeking from romantic interests has been extremely liberating. I am doing my best to lean into the process, to go one day at a time, and see what comes of it.