"Honeymoon with Big Joy" #6

Featuring Tryphena Yeboah and Billy Preston

Welcome to “Honeymoon with Big Joy”

Remember, you’re the co-creator of this dive. Do as much or as little as you’d like, when you’d like, how you’d like, with the materials I provide. Just keep gentle faith with yourself.

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Set your intention

Take a moment to name the primary intention you have for this month-long deep dive and/or this particular session. Take a quiet moment to center yourself in that intention.

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En-JOY the music

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Read the poem

I invite you to read this poem twice—aloud, at least once. You may also listen to my reading, perhaps with your eyes closed.

I SING THEREFORE WE SING
Tryphena Yeboah

I need you to understand:
my joy is something you can wear, too.
Throw it over your head like a blessing bestowed,
keep it wrapped around your body in the cold nights.
In your loneliness, I am there. Warmth is love.
Love is as open as the mouth of God and we can both feast.
A big table only means I have more food for myself and you, too,
and asks why do you sit so far away? Pull up a chair.
Bitterness scratches its body until it’s sore.
Walks around the room pointing at everything
it wished it owned. As if two hearts couldn’t leap
over the joy of one and two voices in an empty room
were incapable of making music. As if, should I begin to grow
out of myself, my stretched hands wouldn’t make your loneliness
lose its name. I say this with love:
a joy that is shared never runs out and my hands stay open.


(from A Mouthful of Home from New-Generation African Poets, edited by Kwami Dawes and Chris Abani)

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Contemplate/Create

Use any of these questions however you wish—e.g., as openings for meditation or prayer, as prompts for journaling or poetry-writing, as sparks for drawing or painting, as catalysts for change-making . . . You may also ignore my questions altogether to go off in other directions!

• Use this fragment from the poem as a starting point for reflection, writing, or creation: “A joy that is shared ____________.”

• Think of/write about a specific time when you either “wore” someone else’s joy or could tell that they were wearing yours.

• This poem suggests that experiences of shared joy can sustain us through times of loneliness. What is your response?

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Want to visit with other Rafters in the Deep Dive?

Here are two options: either leave a comment on this post using the button, or join the chat thread dedicated to this Deep Dive. (Note: if you haven’t created a Substack profile yet, you’ll be asked to do so before you can comment or chat.)

These materials are for educational purposes only. Not for sale or reproduction.

Join us on October 31 for “Rafter Refuge”!

6:30-8:00PM Central (7:30 ET, 5:30 MT, 4:30 PT)

Let’s close this Deep Dive with a time of voluntary sharing. (It’s fine just to listen!) Come and reflect with other Rafters on “Honeymoon with Big Joy.” Registration is required for this celebration.

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Questions? Never hesitate to contact me.

See you on Monday.