Yesterday, our 5/5 GREEN SHABBAT  IPCC 2021 MURMURATION spanned the globe with guests from Delaware, Tennessee, Berlin, Dubai, South Carolina and Malawi. We read the IPCC 2021 press release together and then talked with artist, scholar and activist Jonathan Schorsch about the Green Sabbath project.

In every murmuration, we host a flash poetry session where we choose a word that captures our conversation and then we write for 7 minutes. Afterwards, we read our poems aloud to each other. 

I have found these flash poetry sessions to be so moving and enlightening. I learn so much from my fellow starlings and admire how adeptly they share insights, beauty, and wisdom in mid flight. I am also grateful to have the chance to breath and see and think through poetry again in a space where none of us are poets and all of us are poets.

Yesterday Jonathan chose the word RESILIENCE.  This is my poem:

When I think about 

RESILIENCE

I think about grasses
and reeds
​
I see them
at the edge of a lake.

I don't know
why
these reeds
come to mind.

Though maybe
it comes 
from
SCRIPTURE

a Bible verse

my mother 
used
to read
to me
as a child.

A BRUISED REED
HE WILL NOT BREAK.

Is that right?
I don't remember. 

I can look it up. 
I look it up. 
I google it.

A bruised reed
He will not break
and a smoldering wick
He will not snuff out

In faithfulness
He will bring forth justice.

He will not falter
or be discouraged
till He establishes
justice on earth. 

*************

I am troubled
by the HE.

*************

RESILIENCE
also means
establishing
new relationships 

to NATURE
to SACRED TEXTS 

handed down

to have the WISDOM
and GOOD SENSE 

to
ACCEPT
what is
USEFUL

to not throw out
the BABY with the BATH.

POOR BABY. 
I see her flying
out into the air.

RESILIENCE
is that child
landing

in the garden
in the fragrant
herbs

in the soft
receiving 
warmth 
of the
ground. 

On Saturday, September 4th I will be hosting my 4th GREEN SHABBAT MURMURATION as a way to think about and process the IPCC 2021 report.

The 5th and final murmuration of this series will be next Saturday, September 11

Our schedule for both Saturdays is the same:
ALL TIMES QUITO TIME

10:30 MORNING MURMURATION
11:00 READING TOGETHER IPCC2021 PRESS RELEASE
12:00 FLASH POETRY

6:30 PM SUNSET SINGALONG
7:00 PM EVENING MURMURATION

If you would like to come, please CONTACT ME and I will send you the link. 
​
What is a murmuration?

A murmuration is a dance of starlings, brilliant and beautiful, often at twilight. Practically speaking, the starlings soar together because there is safety in numbers--it protects them from peregrine falcons, it creates warmth, they share information, and as they dance, sing and soar together they also clear out predators from the fields before they roost. Scientists have found that starlings key to 7 other individuals to coordinate their flight.

My MURMURATION PROJECT began during the pandemic, in the midst of the anguish surrounding the murder of George Floyd and the keen clamor around our need to create alternate systems of engagement. As I was thinking of how we might respond to the corrupted social systems that bind us, systems that have been built to serve the goals of empires and colonizers, systems shaped in bias and hate, I began to look out my window to the birds that have brought me such company during the pandemic. In the midst of the searing loneliness of the pandemic, I began to look again to Nature's wisdom and design and I began to see murmurations appearing on my computer screen. Everywhere! And I was inspired.

A poem came to me in mid December and then this project was born as a means to collectively reimagine, improvise and play with Nature's designs and explore alternate ways to use our significant gifts to connect to each other, to play together, to build community, learn from each other, dance together and promote social engagement informed by Nature's brilliant designs. The first murmuration was a 18 hour marathon to celebrate the winter solstice. Since then I have hosted murmurations in honor of International Women's Day, to celebrate art and artists, and even as a means to bring together friends in mourning in a kind of velorio or wake after the sudden passing of a beloved friend.

Why GREEN SHABBAT? I will tell you more about the GREEN SABBATH project when you come to our murmuration. In the meantime you can read more about this brilliant initiative, brainchild of my friend Jonathan Schorsch here: GREEN SABBATH

So now, in the face of the devastating IPCC 2021 report, I am hosting 5 GREEN SHABBAT MURMURATIONS in a row as a way to engage and respond to this important call to action.

The IPCC 2021 report is terrifying, heartbreaking and paralyzing. My biggest desire is to look away. But I am 56 and half way to 112! So I am now old enough to know better. I know from experience that big problems don't just go away, that they require mature and collective action AND that it is much easier to face difficult tasks side by side with loved ones and friends.

Laughter, music, joy, improvisation, PLAY, good food, dance--all of these creative vehicles provide transformative channels for change. To be resilient, we have to dance, sing, play and laugh!

And so I invite you to join me in a skylarking flight with fellow starlings--to come together and think together, play, imagine, laugh and work together--so that we might keep each other company and hold up our candles together finding a pathway forward through this dark time.

We have 5 years. There is so much we can do together.

We are born to this time.
We are born to this place.
We are born to each other.

TOGETHER we know how to respond.

Contact me if you would like to come!