Visa Renewal

My 3-months visitor’s visa to the United Bloglands is up for renewal. According to the Bloglands Visa Renewal Form, I have to come up with a list of 10 good reasons why I want to extend my stay. 

Based on the following quote (sorry all, not a poem this time. According to my profile, the expression “carefully arranged language” should cover me here, if only just...) this is an attempt to start such a list.

“Children, I have come here like the rest of you, to hear what I have to say.”
- Sojourner Truth

Sitting down in front of the screen two days ago, my insides wobbled. To be quite honest, the call for an important decision took up far more brain space than a modest blog post.

Then Max, my loyal camera (nestled quietly next to me here on the desk), urged me to open the  Aperture program. So I did. I selected photos to illustrate Karin Boye’s poem Yes, Of Course It Hurts When Buds Are Breaking. I adjusted exposure, altered contrast, added green. I held the two in my palms, the photos and the poem, and trusted something to happen. Gradually the screen filled with letters and colors, sentences and images, with content I could understand.  

The action of my fingers on the keyboard, and my eyes on the screen gradually marked out a direction for the day - To let go, if only for a moment. 

As I pressed “View post” I hadn’t even noticed that my insides had stopped wobbling and my heart had returned to its normal pace.

So my # 1 reason for blogging (to be copied onto Visa Renewal Form) is this: 
I write and blog because my fingers and my eyes are so much wiser than my mind. I come here to view what I have to say.

Wherever this “here” is. And whoever the “I”.

Photos © Grete S. Kempton

If Only for a Moment

Yes, it is hard when drops are falling.
Trembling with fear, and heavy hanging,
cleaving to the twig, and swelling, sliding
- Karin Boye

I am inspired to let go. If only for a moment.

Throughout the last week I’ve had a dilemma.
My husband says, you don’t need to rush the decision.
My friend says, you don’t need to rush the decision.
Inside me, there is rush, rush, rush. A sense of urgency.
Sometimes even buying a liter of milk, can shoot adrenalin through my body.
And this was so much more than buying a liter of milk.

then, when no fear holds back any longer,
down in glitter go the twig's drops plunging,
- Karin Boye

I am inspired to let go. Of the rushing. To let those drops fall, dance, enjoy.
If only for a moment.

Karin Boye - Yes, Of Course It Hurts, from For the Tree’s Sake (1935)
Translation by David McDuff

Photos © Grete S. Kempton

Change vs. Growth

“Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking.

Why else would the springtime falter?” - Karin Boye

I have received a bagful of clothes from a good friend. She has gained weight somewhere - her heart, her hair, the toes on her left foot, I’m not quite sure. All I know is I am standing in front of the mirror trying on one chic garment after another. And I must admit it - I look pretty cool.

But is this me? I mean - Me? 

My friend looks stunning in these tops and dresses; the see-through and glitter, the low cut neckline revealing whatever is to be revealed. They suit her, they underline who she is.

But me? Well. I look into the mirror and I’m not quite sure I recognize the person in front of me. She is changed. There is still that same smile (or laugh in fact, for I cannot avoid it!), still the same hair. But she is different. 

Is this why I am reluctant to change in general? Because I am frightened I will not recognize my own self?

A whole library of books talk about change these days: “Change Your Brain, Change Your Body”, “Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life”, “When Everything Changes, Change Everything”. It seems to be the thing to be doing - to change.

Still, I, or we, tend hold on to the now, for at least we know what we’re dealing with. Better to swim in familiar waters than dive into the unknown future. Also, if I always need to change and be different, can I ever relax and be satisfied with who I am today?
 

Change is closely linked to the word growth. They both signify the hidden to be revealed - the unknown to come into being.
 

Yet, where change asks me to replace, growth offers me expansion. Where change tells me I need to do things differently, growth grants me the permission to be more of who I already am.
 

Which, of course, can also grant me a few challenges. 
 

“Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking,
hurts for that which grows
and that which bars.” - Karin Boye

Karin Boye - Yes, Of Course It Hurts, from For the Tree’s Sake (1935)
Translation by David McDuff

Photos © Grete S. Kempton

Buds Breaking

I am grateful for my teachers, they surround me. Heaven above. The earth below. The sun. The seasons. My loved ones. The passing minutes, months, years, all contained within the word experience. 

Then there is my camera.

It says, where you point my lens, is where I will focus.
It says, where you direct your eyes, is where your attention goes.

Like hunting for red. If you move around in the world looking for red, you will find it. (Go here to do a small experiment.) 

And there are poems. 

I live in the midst of Karin Boye’s words - Yes, Of Course It Hurts. 
She talks about spring, about buds. About how it hurts when buds are breaking. For -

Why else would the springtime falter?
Why would all our ardent longing
bind itself in frozen, bitter pallor?
After all, the bud was covered all the winter.
What new thing is it that bursts and wears?

I have walked some paths this spring, pointing my lens at buds bursting. Those outside of me. And those inside.

Karin Boye - Yes, Of Course It Hurts, from For the Tree’s Sake (1935)
Translation by David McDuff

Photos © Grete S. Kempton