writing

sacred

| Sheree
i ain’t smiling

Listen

It’s been said that I am sacred.

That I hold the spirits of ancestors in my pores.

And yet you still seek to possess me. Then take heed.

Make sure you follow the example of the Salish people

and show gratitude. Show respect.

And

| Sheree
i ain’t smiling

&

 

One time when I came home crying after being called nasty names at school, he told me to fight back. If I couldn’t use my fists and feet to fight back, he said, to then pick up a brick and use that to fight back instead.

mood : wide arse smiling on the inside

| Sheree
i ain’t smiling

i ain’t smiling and that makes me smile from the inside out.

there are tasks i want to {BE} and do and there are tasks i do not want to {BE} and do.

leaning into those take that bring me joy is what i {Be} and do today and the next day. and the next.

that’s all a bear can ask for. that’s all i want. and {Be} and do.

i ain’t smiling. but i’m wide arse, teeth shining, smiling for me – on the inside.

Hope Zine

| Sheree
Hope Zine @ Sarah Shotts

A fellow creative called out for submissions for a collaborative, community zine while she took compassionate leave after a death in her family.

Sarah Shott @ The Compost Heap made the call and I answered with a poem. The theme was hope.

You can read the full version over on Sarah’s website.

My contribution is above along with artwork from Nicole Madonna (Pennsylvania, USA)

IG @nikkymadonna

Enjoy.

today’s ponderings while lying on the couch …

| Sheree

liminality

in-between spaces

lingering in the midst flight

fugitivity

nowhere at all

the potential of edges

black captives trapped at sea

zones of non-being

“Wherever blackness dwells—slave ship, spaceship, graveyard, garden, elsewhere, everywhere—those captives accessed what Spillers calls a “richness of possibility.” Hortense Spillers quoted in La Marr Jurelle Bruce, How To Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind: Madness and Black Radical Creativity.

bramble bunches of joy

| Sheree

This is what I love.

My camera is my eye. It helps me see what I see better.

My camera helps me to appreciate what I love. Nature.

My photography is an archive and a mediation. It slows me down.

Going out and taking pictures brings me joy.

I’m intrigued my Mother Nature’s expressions. And my camera helps me to take the time with her.

I do not create for an algorithm. I do not create for likes and approval.

I create for me. I create for joy.

Me sharing my creations is like a ‘show and tell’. Look this is what I love.