Welcome (back)

I feel like I’m opening my eyes for the first time these days and so it is only befitting that my website deserved a makeover.  So welcome if you are new here and welcome back if you have visited in before. 

I have had quite the year and then some. I have battled personal illnesses and illnesses in my family, as I know so many have. 

I have felt socially isolated, but also so connected and loved all at the same time.  I have faced setbacks that have made me want to scrap this site all together as well as scrap writing and using my voice all together; however, I cannot do that. 

So here I am.  I will keep writing forever and always, as if my life depends on it, because essentially it does. 

If I have learned nothing else during these last months, it is that even with the faintest of breath, I will speak the words I need to speak for freedoms sake.  With whatever strength I have in my arms, no matter how much pain my hands are in, even if I cannot grip a pen, I will write.

I will leave you with this poem pieced together in April of 2020 in the midst of my first bout with Covid and edited along the way to fit the day.  At the time it was both therapeutic for me, and a passionate plea.  Now it is a story of where I have been, why it is important to keep going, but with caution, and possibly a different sort of plea.  Take from it what you will.  Always with peace and love.

“Same Air”

By PoetSimone

One thing I can say for certain is that we all breathe the same air

We cannot see it

But it’s that same air that causes hair to blow in your face on a windy day at the beach

That same air that made you blush when it lifted your dress in the middle of a busy intersection

It’s the same air that cools you down when you are out working in your garden or throwing burgers or mushroom caps on the grill

And it’s that same air

That same air

That air we cannot see

That air we often take for granted

That can so swiftly become an opponent at the other end of the rope in a game of tug of war

A game of tug of war where winner takes all

And see the thing is while you think you have a leg up on the competition

Your opponent doesn’t play fair and the rules aren’t laid out as clearly as you think

So, while I would say I don’t mean to be preachy, that’s not true

I might not know you, but I share these words because I love you solely because you are human and I breathe air like you to

I breathed air sometime in March,

Actually, every second of every day but in some of that breathing and in some of my travels

Healthy

35-year-old me

Got sick along the way

It came on suddenly it seemed

Like I had been running in my sleep

Finding a good breath was harder and harder

I was tired and I was weak.

A cough boomed from my chest that woke my family up at night

A cough so forceful it’s waves shook my head causing even my eyeballs to be sore

My only “pre-existing” medical condition : migraines, so my eyes were already beyond sore

Isolated in my room for 20 days

Out for the occasional seated shower

In and out of sleep, waking up for help to breathe

Mild

Light

Healthy

Young

Not “at risk”

I often speak in riddles and circles but today I will be blunt

Because like I said before

You are human and we breathe the same air, so I love you.

You matter.

I want you here tomorrow and for years to come.

If you breath air, and I know you do

No matter your age, race, or where you live

You are at risk

ALL sacrifice is just that, a sacrifice

So yes, you will miss things

And no, you will not have the same comforts or fun for now

This is short lived

So, your precious beautiful life can be long lived.

Use wisdom

Stay safe