Singing Harmony

I'm in this relationship. Ten years ago, it was about fun and love and my insatiable need to give an underdog and show someone what it is like to fly--and when I'm honest with myself, there was a lot in it for me too. Now this relationship is more of a misunderstanding, and I have a lot stories.

We all have stories. Looking at our stories from a literary view it's like this. When we look at the truths in the stories we hold closest to our hearts, we forget that we write and tell our stories. Facts are facts, and the tone is sung in many different harmonies.

In my stories of this important relationship how do I separate my story from the human being? Where do I stand nose-to-nose, and where do I let go?

Tearing down my stories is painful, joyous, and everything in between. It means admitting that I'm wrong, that I have treated someone unfairly, or that I may have to make a change in how I am. More daunting, is realizing that someone has the same stories about me and singing a new harmony doesn't mean I'll be seen in a new way. I keep practicing, and I keep loving into it.

Here's a song that reminds me to keep practicing:

My professor Dianne Connelly says humans word the world. We make history. Dianne also says a story is not for the teller, the story is for the sake of the listener.

Today look at one of your stories and the tone you sing in. What story do you want your great-great grandchildren to hear? What story do you want to teach your children? Our stories are contagious, and we are all writers.

Dissonance

Garbage spews forth
From your rotting larynx

Suffocating the dust particles
Dancing in the sunlight
You mouth closes

My numb tongue
Bitten through
Pausing to lilt sulfur
Between black powder dust
Invitation for reaction

Shoulders kiss my ribs
Sun casts tree shadows
Behind your head
Winded branches tap the rhythm
I breathe, singing in the rain

Letting garbage lie
Letting powder fall
Seeds planted in thirds
For next year's flowers
Will you sing the fifth?

Harmony