Amie Tyler, MA, Higher Love Healing
Bridging Psychology, Energy, and the Other Side
Pandemic Poetry & Art Healing Project
Poeming in a Pandemic
Is it possible to write a poem
during a pandemic and not
address it or the circular nature
of time and how nearly everything
adores being alive?
Should I be sewing instead
of poeming or sweating
to virtual Jazzercise?
How many baths is too many in a day?
Is this shade of blue essential?
Tidewater, Calypso, Resolute Blue
Will I remember how to hug you
when it’s time again?
How long to hold on, when to let go?
Are words like CRISIS a cloak
allowing everyone
to finally notice their breathing body?
On the surface or deep
or in that place humming along with
the rest of the world?
Bathing with Magnolias, by Lyla Merle Morrison
About the poem:
Poeming in a Pandemic is a meditation on stillness during the world pandemic. What is it like to steep in the questions? What does it feel like to show up with yourself exactly as you are? This poem acknowledges the narrative of the external landscape and it's pressure for busyness but allows for the breath to be more than enough.
Bio:
Brie Huling is a Eugene, Oregon based poet & high school teacher & therapeutic yoga teacher. She has spent the last five months sloooooooowing down to be with her houseplants, 25 pound mainecoon kitty Mr. Miyagi, playing in a new vegetable garden, and learning inside of a blended family love experiment. Brie is full of gratitude for all that is and knows she has much more to learn.
You can find Brie at her website here.
About the painting:
I was inspired by the contrasting emotions of the poem, which I found to be both melancholy and hopeful. I attempted to convey the same feeling through the figure of the girl bathing, looking down and away, surrounded by the bursting life of magnolia flowers.
Bio:
Lyla Merle Morrison is an artist and creative director living in Los Angeles, CA. She's a lover of opposites with an insatiable appetite for figuring out why things happen and how things work. Things she can't live without: crazy hair dye, high-quality graph paper, inappropriate people, good pens, adventure.
You can find Lyla at her website here and on Instgram here: @lylamerle