CREATING SPACE: Heartbreak & Healing
Krystal Kavita Jagoo
CREATING SPACE����Heartbreak & Healing
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
HOW TO SHARE SPACE EQUITABLY
REVIEW OF SOME POETIC FORMS
REFLECTIVE WRITING PROMPT
VOLUNTARY SHARING OF PROCESS AND/OR NARRATIVES
Land Acknowledgment
I wish to acknowledge this land on which I reside. It is the traditional territory of many Nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. I acknowledge that Tkaronto is covered by Treaty 13 signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands. This land remains home to many Indigenous communities from across Turtle Island and I am grateful to have the opportunity to live here, as I work in solidarity with Indigenous folx. Additionally, I acknowledge the many people of African descent who are not settlers, but whose ancestors were forcibly displaced as part of the transatlantic slave trade against their will, and made to work on these lands.
Anti-
Oppressive Practice Wishlist
Prioritizing Access in This Space
Please use the space you are in as you need or prefer.
Sit in chairs or sit on the floor, pace, lay down, rock, flap, spin, move around, move in, out, and around your space. Communicate through your body, chat, Zoom features, or voice. Feel free to engage by listening, reflecting, etc.
Close your eyes. Draw, doodle, write.
installation piece: Shannon Finnegan, Do you want us here or not, 2018; People’s Hub (movement school) slide.
Tujhe Dekha To
- Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Lata Mangeshkar & Kumar Sanu
Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jana Sanam
Pyar Hota Hai Deewana Sanam
Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jana Sanam
I saw you, I realized.
What madness love is.
When I saw you, I realized
Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jana Sanam
Pyar Hota Hai Deewana Sanam
Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jana Sanam
Pyar Hota Hai Deewana Sanam
I saw you, I realized.
What madness love is.
When I saw you, I realized.
What madness love is.
1/7
Tujhe Dekha To
- Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Lata Mangeshkar & Kumar Sanu
Ab Yahan Se Kahan Jayein Hum
Teri Bahon Mein Mar Jayein Hum
From here, where to?
Just let me die in your arms.
2/7
Tujhe Dekha To
- Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Lata Mangeshkar & Kumar Sanu
Ankhein Meri Sapne Tere,
Dil Mera Yadein Teri
Ho Mera Hai Kya, Sab Kuch Tera, Jan Teri Sansein Teri
Meri Ankhon Mein Ansoo Tere Aa Gaye Muskurane Lage Sare Gham
My eyes. Dream of you.
My heart holds memories of you.
Nothing’s mine. It’s all yours.
My life, my breath is yours.
When I weep for you, your tears.
My sorrows begin to smile.
3/7
Tujhe Dekha To
- Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Lata Mangeshkar & Kumar Sanu
Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jana Sanam
Pyar Hota Hai Deewana Sanam
Ab Yahan Se Kahan Jayein Hum
Teri Bahon Mein Mar Jayein Hum
Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jana Sanam
I saw you, I realized.
What madness love is.
From here, where to?
Just let me die in your arms.
I saw you, I realized.
4/7
Tujhe Dekha To
- Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Lata Mangeshkar & Kumar Sanu
Yeh Dil Kahin Lagta Nahin
Kya Kahoon Main Kya Karoon
Han Tu Samne Baithi Rahe
Main Tujhe Dekha Karoon
I don’t feel like anything.
What do I say, what do I do?
In front of me.
Just keep sitting.
Just let me look at you.
5/7
Tujhe Dekha To
- Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Lata Mangeshkar & Kumar Sanu
Tune Awaz Di Dekh Main A Gayi
Pyar Se Hai Badi Kya Kasam
You called out to me, and look, here I am.
What greater than the promise to love?
6/7
Tujhe Dekha To
- Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Lata Mangeshkar & Kumar Sanu
Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jana Sanam
Pyar Hota Hai Deewana Sanam
Ab Yahan Se Kahan Jayein Hum
Teri Bahon Mein Mar Jayein Hum
I saw you, I realized.
What madness love is.
From here, where to?
Just let me die in your arms.
7/7
A Kind of Love, Some Say by Maya Angelou
Is it true the ribs can tell
The kick of a beast from a
Lover’s fist? The bruised
Bones recorded well
The sudden shock, the
Hard impact. Then swollen lids,
Sorry eyes, spoke not
Of lost romance, but hurt.
Hate often is confused. Its
Limits are in zones beyond itself. And
Sadists will not learn that
Love by nature, exacts a pain
Unequalled on the rack.
A Kind of Love, Some Say by Maya Angelou
“Unequalled on the rack.”
Alone by Maya Angelou
Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty
And bread loaf is not stone
I came up with one thing
And I don’t believe I’m wrong
That nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.
1/3
Alone by Maya Angelou
There are some millionaires
With money they can’t use
Their wives run round like banshees
Their children sing the blues
They’ve got expensive doctors
To cure their hearts of stone.
But nobody
No, nobody
Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.
2/3
Alone by Maya Angelou
Now if you listen closely
I’ll tell you what I know
Storm clouds are gathering
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering
And I can hear the moan,
’Cause nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.
3/3
Caged Bird by Maya Angelou
A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
1/5
Caged Bird by Maya Angelou
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
2/5
Caged Bird by Maya Angelou
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
3/5
Caged Bird by Maya Angelou
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
4/5
Caged Bird by Maya Angelou
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
5/5
Continue: A Poem by Maya Angelou
My wish for you
Is that you continue
Continue
To be who and how you are
To astonish a mean world
With your acts of kindness
Continue
To allow humor to lighten the burden
Of your tender heart
1/7
Continue: A Poem by Maya Angelou
Continue
In a society dark with cruelty
To let the people hear the grandeur
Of God in the peals of your laughter
Continue
To let your eloquence
Elevate the people to heights
They had only imagined
2/7
Continue: A Poem by Maya Angelou
Continue
To remind the people that
Each is as good as the other
And that no one is beneath
Nor above you
Continue
To remember your own young years
And look with favor upon the lost
And the least and the lonely
3/7
Continue: A Poem by Maya Angelou
Continue
To put the mantle of your protection
Around the bodies of
The young and defenseless
Continue
To take the hand of the despised
And diseased and walk proudly with them
In the high street
Some might see you and
Be encouraged to do likewise
4/7
Continue: A Poem by Maya Angelou
Continue
To plant a public kiss of concern
On the cheek of the sick
And the aged and infirm
And count that as a
Natural action to be expected
Continue
To let gratitude be the pillow
Upon which you kneel to
Say your nightly prayer
And let faith be the bridge
You build to overcome evil
And welcome good
5/7
Continue: A Poem by Maya Angelou
Continue
To ignore no vision
Which comes to enlarge your range
And increase your spirit
Continue
To dare to love deeply
And risk everything
For the good thing
6/7
Continue: A Poem by Maya Angelou
Continue
To float
Happily in the sea of infinite substance
Which set aside riches for you
Before you had a name
Continue
And by doing so
You and your work
Will be able to continue
Eternally
7/7
Invitation
to Reflect
on Your Own Relationship to Heartbreak & Healing
Some accessible options for engaging:
Gwendolyn Brooks’ Advice to Writers
“In writing your poem, tell the truth as you know it. Tell your truth. Don’t try to sugar it up. Don’t force your poem to be nice or proper or normal or happy if it does not want to be. Remember that poetry is life distilled and that life is not always nice or proper or normal or happy or smooth or even-edged.”
Time to Write!
Voluntary Sharing of Narratives and/or Discussion of the Process of Responding to a Writing Prompt?