How Wonderful
How wonderful I can pick
berries in the woods
I thought
there were no woods or berries.
How wonderful I can stretch out
in the shadow of a tree
I thought trees
no longer gave shade.
How wonderful I am with you
my heart is beating fast
I thought human beings
had no heart.
by Tadeusz Rózewicz in Sobbing Superpower
Invitation: “…I thought …”
More about Tadeusz Rózewicz writing and work at this link.
We will meet for the Community Table Monday, October 6th, at 8:00 PM ET
Contact us for information HERE.
If you are enjoying The Community Table and would like to support our work consider making a donation. While the offerings on the Community Table will always be free - we appreciate any support you can provide to continue helping us set the table for creating community.
Our friend Penny Williamson
Circles of Courageous Commons would like to share our friend Penny Williamsons’ new work! Check out the Substack they created with their friend Darcy Shaw. Follow along and maybe find a friend to write or share a story with!
Sara Makeba Daise book is out!
Alice Graham and Francis Lee and Sally Z. Hare are honored to co-host the online Book Launch through still learning, inc., for our friend, Sara Makeba Daise.
Sara’s words touch us deeply. We recognize the importance of Sara’s new book, Sankofa Shadow Work: Diaries of Diasporic Diviner, for each of us – and we want to share it with you.
What: Online Book Party to celebrate the launch of Sankofa Shadow Work
When: 5-6 pm ET/4-5 pm CT/2-3 pm PT on Sunday, October 26
Where: still learning’s Zoom room
Meeting ID: 438 627 4031 Passcode: hope
Dress: comfy and elegant
Refreshments: We haven’t figured out how to offer refreshments on Zoom, so please bring whatever you’d like (maybe something for a toast!)
Learn More About Circles of Courageous Commons HERE
"I thought human beings
had no heart." Tadeusz Rozewicz
____________
There are many ways for me to experience this poem and this phrase. The grateful surprise that the poet offers is one way, and the first way I experienced this poem. And, in the midst of the severe cruelty of immigrants, black and brown people, by federal agents in Chicago, and other cities, seems to reveal that these agents have "no heart." And, no conscience. So, I thought, as a nation, that we were better than this. And, sadly, we are not. So, truth must be spoken in the face of such cruelty and violations of the rule of law and human decency. If I am silent, then I am complicit, which I cannot be or I lose my soul and my heart.