A reader recently posted a poem on one of my posts. Besides being extraordinarily touched by her honesty and writing, I felt as if she had offered me a window into her life. A picture window from a mountain cabin where I look out and can see forever.
Beyond this window is the path; beyond the path the trees; beyond the trees the meadow; beyond the meadow, a mountain; beyond that mountain, more mountains. As far as the eye could see there was more. It’s like that with our lives – all of us are so much more than what shows visibly. It’s hard to give grace for what’s hidden, yet it’s critical.
Blogging is like a picture window. When people read and comment, you offer me a picture window that gives me a view beyond my mind, home, and city. It stretches me to look out the window to where you live, play and think. It’s a window that challenges my thinking and my writing; a window that gives me another perspective, a different lens; a window that humbles and inspires.
So – thank you! For offering up a picture window to the world – your world.
Blogger’s Note: Are you reading Communicating Across Boundaries for the first time? Feel free to browse earlier posts. Some of the most popular have been:
- Tahrir Square: Walls and Graffiti
- Dull Women Have Immaculate Coffee Tables
- Saudade – A Word for the Third Culture Kid
- What’s Mom Doing in My Mirror?
- About
Marilyn R. Gardner 
I love having lots of windows. Bloggers are fascinating people.
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So true Trinity! It’s hard to imagine what we would miss if the medium of blogging had never developed.
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Good day Marilyn, the phD. lady wanted to express her thoughts by mixing them in a bowl,as if she is baking a cake.She jumped from one subject to another not letting the reader to understand her objective,Best regards Jalal Michael Sabbagh.
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Sorry Jalal, if you found this unsatisfying. I was just sharing a glimpse into my life. No objective.
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And you open our windows, Marilyn. Thanks.
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Bettie- thank you! I so look forward to talking and connecting in July.
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Hey Marilyn, I am posting the poem here again if that is alright. Also readers can see my new post at https://communicatingacrossboundariesblog.com/2012/06/01/so-many-stories-safety-and-success/ and http://creatingcalmwithinchaos.com/guest-blogger-kimberly-burnham-summer-series-may-25-2012-how-do-you-keep-yourself-safe/
Chameleon Here in Time and Space
A chameleon, changing, blending,
rearranging letters: each lemon, camel eh
on, heal con me, my reptilian
brain keeping me safe, monitoring
others doing, always scrutinizing,
do I fit here? Are you my community?
How do you put on a Jewish tallit?
articulate a Mormon prayer? Just watch. Where
do you put a garden party’s
dirty paper plates? Saving plastic forks?
Just watch. How do you buy
a German subway ticket? Just watch.
I imagined myself able
to talk to anyone, anywhere.
You and I have something in common.
Did you live in Latin America as a child?
Europe? Asia? Canada? Work in Italy?
Germany? Hong Kong?
I can talk to you.
Do you eat meat? Are you vegan?
Gluten-free? I can talk to you
about Japanese food, my favorite raw
vegan, San Francisco’s Cafe Gratitude,
Thai food from Toronto’s Coco Peanut.
“Canadian’s may not know who
they are, but they know for sure
they are not Americans.” But, I am
both, a gringo, gaijin, illegal alien, foreigner,
landed immigrant, EU resident, global
nomad, third culture kid,
with two passports, fluency
in four languages, and so many more
allegiances to the comfort of home.
I am a lesbian. I have been
straight, deep in the closet,
out and proud, chanting,
“I am here! I am queer! Get used to it!”
and in awkward shameful moments,
I have felt compelled by my reading
of the environment to lie
about my love for a woman.
I can talk politics, democracy’s republic,
parliamentary systems, a benign
dictatorship, and healthcare in socialist countries.
I can talk to you, the far socialist left
and the red religious right. I can find
the middle ground.
Conversing about religion, I can
understand the Mormon church
of my childhood’s mysticism,
Shinto shrines, the Buddhism of Japan,
Thailand, Tibet, Judaism of secular Israelis
and observant Jews, the beauty
of the Baha’i Gardens in Haifa,
an Islamic Sufi view of Turkey, Istanbul’s
Blue Mosque, the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints temple building
near home in Connecticut.
A religious eclectic, “What do I believe?”
Why do I lean to the left? Views colored
experience, spit on my shirt, treating soldiers
injured in battle, seeing children,
hungry and cold, I have known
the joy of giving, sharing, being
grateful for how lucky I am.
And so, I can talk to anyone,
except about who I am,
really deep inside
and where I am home.
Not a pretender, an imposter, a fake,
I am just many things. I have earned
a living, collecting insects,
saving drowning children,
teaching English, massage therapy,
integrative manual therapy,
craniosacral therapy,
and matrix energetics.
Equally comfortable as an esoteric
energy practitioner, neurology specialist
and vision expert. Reinventing the face
of neurodegenerative disorders:
Parkinson’s and bigotry
through the vulnerability
of sharing my own story:
faith and vision recovery.
A treasure hunter, I am a writer
of stories, published transformational
author, photographer of onions,
journalist, entrepreneur.
Yes, I can be a cold blooded reptile,
a chameleon and a warm, fuzzy
teddy bear, still searching for my niche,
while I live here in time and space,
breathing home into my body.
– From Live Like Someone Left The Gate Open by Kimberly Burnham
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So glad you are sharing your insights and baring the window to your soul! We are eternally grateful!
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Lovely comment on this poem. I don’t think I realized when i began blogging the connections i would have the privilege to make. It is a gift.
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