+ Her Barefoot Heart
Jeanne’s personal creative pursuits of stories stitched, written, and spoken
and then the day came
when she opened her fingers,
relaxing the chokehold she had
on things that no longer seemed
so important.
and in that releasing,
the fronds of her heart unfurled,
the leaves becoming steps
allowing entry to
more goodness
than she’d dared
dream possible.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar: release
i cleaned windows today.
on one,
i used
glass cleaner,
paper towels,
and elbow grease.
on the other,
i used
honesty,
love,
and
trust.
i can see clearly now.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar: trust
for my friend
karen sharp
and other women
who find themselves in need
of gentle hugs
and heart balm:
an altar.
pansies
for thought,
blue bird
for happiness,
a clock to say
“all in good time,”
and a sparkly, boro’ed bird
to remind us that
there’s art in mending.
~~ :: ~~
for my friend
karen sharp
and other women
who find themselves in need
of gentle hugs
and heart balm:
an altar.
pansies
for thought,
blue bird
for happiness,
a clock to say
“all in good time,”
and a sparkly, boro’ed bird
to remind us that
there’s art in mending.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar: mending
yesterday
Mother Nature and I
pitched a hissy fit.
in perfect harmony.
today we are
cleansed.
refreshed.
hoarse.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar: weathering
each tear
an altar
to things
unspoken
and unseen
and yet still
Known.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar (cloth): Knowing
they were productive,
these women.
cooking
cleaning
planning
preserving
sewing
planting
teaching
cutting
picking
tending
and more.
and sometimes,
sometimes for days on end,
they cried.
they cried silently and
without attracting attention
because to explain
in words
what every teardrop held
seemed an insurmountable task.
~~ :: ~~
today’s altar (cloth): determination
stitching.
battening down,
i call it.
riding the thread
to places
unknown
and known but forgotten
and known . . . but maybe not really.
rhythm
soothing
surprising
and still
relaxing in its predictability.
up and down
space for pondering things like
being taken care of
and
self reliance
and
my children
and
my female ancestors
who spent a goodly
part of each day
stitching.
thinking
about fine lines
distinguishing
humility from self-deprecating humor,
for example
and how easy it is for us
to believe the worst in ourselves
instead of the best.
why is that, anyway?
back and forth
thinking backwards about what was,
forward about what if,
and right now
about what is.
or what i sense
is
is.
in and out
thoughts flying.
captured
then released.
remembered
then forgotten,
marked
then erased.
stitches
knots
woven
frayed.
This work by Jeanne Hewell-Chambers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://www.TheBarefootHeart.com.
© 2026 Jeanne Hewell-Chambers
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