What an amazing virtual rest experience that took place today. Close to 60 resters gathered via Zoom for storytelling, daydreaming, rest and discussion. I am so honored to have the opportunity to hold space for daydreaming, rest, and silence. To imagine a New World that centers liberation, we must practice rest as our foundation to invent, restore, imagine, and build.
I have included the text we engaged with today:
Article: Love as the Practice of Freedom by: bell hooks
Books:
Womanist Theological Ethics: A Reader, Edited by Katie Geneva Cannon, Emilie M. Townes, and Angela D. Sims.
Renaissance by: Ruth Forman (the specific poem from the book is titled, “On This Day.”)
Here is the poem in full:
On This Day
this is a day without chairs
a day where all the rooms melt together
and there are only corners/corners and humming
wishes and slight breeze
brushing you like palms
this is a day of prayers
a day of painful breaking/a day of peace beneath
a day of arms
of hands
eyes and quiet windows
i wish you love from your mother backwards
i wish you deep tunnels without fear
i wish you children’s laughter
i wish you cactus flowers
i wish you moonlight
i wish you real eyes
i wish you a hand across your back/soft like when you were a child
i wish you tears
i wish you clean
i wish you angels in conference around your bed holding you
so there is no space for me even to touch you/just watch
i wish your mother watching
i wish you abalone dreams
i wish you peace
i wish you doves in your kitchen
moonlight in your bathroom
candles when your eyes close and dawn when they open
i wish you so many arms across your shoulders
so many lips kissing your ears that you smile from the inconvenience
i wish you all your babies’ love attacking the center of your heart
just so you know they are there
i wish you banisters, railings, and arms around your waist
i wish you training wheels, i wish you strong shoes
i wish you water o i wish you water
through your feet flowing like a stream
and i wish you hammocks
and melon on your eyes
strawberries in your mouth
and fingers in your hand
fingers in your hand all day
through this house
on this day with no rooms
only corners
and an uncommon breeze
By: Ruth Forman
Your Faithful Nap Bishop,
Tricia
The Nap Ministry 