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Exoskeleton

At first glance, you scare me

Like a terrifying image of the past

With sharp edges, pinchers, and maybe a hidden sting

The packaging of you remains stunningly intact

From this exterior view, you look like you.

With closer curious inspection

You are only the outer design

I could flick away

Or with a breeze of wind

You’d blow away light as the feather you now are

A ghost town of memories.

Every day I awake and

Squiggle away from you.

You hold a past that is no longer who I am or ever was.

I thank you for being the container

For holding space for the very essence of me.

I have crawled out

Flown into the trees

Free to sing and mate.

For now, I have found safe haven

Home in the depths of an inner world

Filled with equanimity, peace, acceptance

Dense with love

Here in the woods of my soul.

Laura Staley
Laura Staleyhttp://www.cherishyourworld.com
The founder of Cherish Your World, Laura Staley passionately helps people thrive by guiding them to a holistic transformation of space, heart, mind, body, and soul. Laura knows that there’s a relationship between the conditions of our homes or workplaces and the quality of our lives. Trained and certified with the Western School of Feng Shui and seasoned by almost two decades of working with a variety of clients, Laura uses her intuition and expertise to empower her clients to produce remarkable results in their lives. Her trifecta of serving people includes speaking, writing, and compassionate listening. As a columnist, Laura writes personal essays focused on self-discovery, feng shui, emotional health, and transformations from the inside out. Laura is the published author of three books: Live Inspired, Let Go Courageously and Live with Love: Transform Your Life with Feng Shui, and the Cherish Your World Gift Book of 100 Tips to Enhance Your Home and Life. Prior to creating her company, Laura worked as a fulltime parent and an assistant professor at Ohio Wesleyan University. She earned a Ph.D. in political science from The Ohio State University. Her joys in life include laughing with loved ones, dancing, reading, meditating, running, being in nature, and listening to music she loves. She resides in Black Mountain, NC with lovable dog, Layla. Laura is a contributing author to the inspiring book Crappy to Happy: Sacred Stories of Transformational Joy

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4 CONVERSATIONS

  1. Laura, I read this earlier and printed it out to keep on my desk – and then got distracted with a call or email and didn’t comment. As I’m clearing my desk, I read through your words again. It is just so beautiful. One of the reasons I love poetry so much is that I can combine your words with my experiences and mental models of the world to create something so meaningful. You’ve done that for me here. Thank you for sharing such a deep personal part of yourself here. I appreciate you!

    • Thank you so much, Melissa! I’m very moved by the fact that you printed off this poem. Humbled. Words seem to point toward many experiences and poetry seems to free the heart and mind in ways that sentences and paragraphs may not. I’m grateful you found resonance with this poem. I appreciate you too!

    • Thank you for your kind, eloquent, poetic feedback, Larry. Sometimes grateful is not a big enough word, my friend.

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