Monday Muse Medicine - Skin To Bark
A question/announcement, prompts to ignite your creative life, and a poem for the woods of your wild soul
Hello dear one!
I was thinking of sending you Creativity prompts, to inspire you to write a poem, or a story, or a short musing, or to paint or draw something, or to take a photo, or to dance - choreograph or freestyle - or compose a musical piece, or cook a beautiful meal, or record a conversation with a friend… anything your creative heart is inspired to do. And maybe we can cast a little circle and share. Would that be something you’re interested in? Let me know.
I’ll send you one of my poems every Monday along with these prompts.
I truly feel that the brilliant art of the heart’s creativity would carry us through these difficult times, and help us carve a path through. I believe we humans can receive inspiration from anything and everything. Struggles can ignite great art. So I’m committing to it. Here with you. Let’s do this!
You know what, why don’t we start today? I’m gonna drop seven lines for you, and you can turn it into whatever your muse guides you to make. Rearrange and change the words if Muse tells you to. These lines are just something to bounce off of. This will be our Monday Muse Medicine. Comment with whatever creative swirl this takes you into…
Below the prompts is my poem Skin to Bark.
Prompts:
When you were a leaf I____
Wind on____ skin, you_____
The space between_____ and____
The bark of____
What was seen____
I gave the____
And the ____ knew____
I want you to know your presence here is a huge gift! I value your intelligence, your imagination, your inspiration. I am so grateful to have you here! And I want to be in conversation with you!
Please comment with whatever these prompts inspire in you.
Share this with your loved ones. Invite them to join you on this Monday Muse Medicine.
And if you’re not subscribed, please subscribe! I’ll be back next Monday with more Muse Medicine. (I’ll probably be back with something more before)
Also, check out the notes I leave - short form little nibbles of inspiration throughout the week. You’d normally see them in your feed on the app. You can find the previous ones under my publication’s Activity. If you see them and they speak to you, put a heart on them and restack them - it’ll help them become more visible and that would be super supportive of my work, and I would appreciate it so much!
Thank you for being here! Have a muse filled Monday!
XOXO
Hagar
Skin To Bark
Between the greens I find a reality of belonging
Skin to bark becomes a sensation of inseparable
Of a universe unfolding
Of beingness becoming more of existence
In the forest I breathe an I into a whole
Skin to bark breathes new configurations
Of identity through timelessness
Of time within no self at all
Of space signaling time to weave
A vastness greater than what we can
Comprehend
Hands grow roots in soil
Soul softens skin into bark
Aging in the forest becomes a sacred bond
Death devours doubts of worthiness
Delicate lines cross and no
One thing is a thread unbound
Interwoven elegance spreading sentiments
Of freedom and
Interdependence
Plants surround a me far gone
Bark and skin and breath and birdsong
Gone yet here
I’ll raise the children that came through me
I’ll see them into adulthood
Love will saturate hearts
Grateful for this human form that
Birthed life and fed and nourished
Like the earth beneath those hands
Make sure to look into their eyes and smile
Make sure to tend with tenderness
To this fleeting spark
In dirt I put my thoughts
Skin surrenders to bark’s hold
And nothing holds together
The unraveling of self and other and more
The intermingle of seed and soil
Water flows from sky and under
Ground
What will grow next in the forest of this life?
This life and that life interweave
Decay feeds cycles of becoming
Leaves and branches and insects and stems
Skin and bark inseparable
Decomposition
Reformulation
Undone
Make this a delicious run




What a stunning poem! Love you wild goddess!