therapy poles

just tried to make my call.
i went up to the kitchen as my studio
is freezing...
line's busy.

i hung up and leaned against the counter.

my eyes fell on this 'column' this
'pole' thing i have in my kitchen.

a neighbor had given it to me.
he got it at his job. someone's pillar
that they didn't want in their house.
he figured i could do something funky with it.

i painted primer on it out in my yard one
morning. hours later, i heard my dad had a
stroke.

the pole became my place to pour my grieving
after my dad died.

every time i would be filled with too much
emotion, i would go over to the pole, which i
had moved into my studio and paint on it.

i painted colors and words and bone sighs.

and one day i moved it up into my kitchen.

i call it my therapy pole. it just leans
against a wall in my kitchen.

i like it.
it adds a little funk to the room.
and it reminds me to live fully.

and that's where my eyes landed.

on some words on the pole.

i went over to the pole.
read the words.
i didn't even know if i'd be able to
see enough of them to read the whole
bone sigh.

there's a bunch of bone sighs on it, but
you can't read them because parts are
covered in other parts of paint.

but this one....
there it was.........

alone.
surrounded by love
and yet totally alone,
the victory is up to you.
and the power is gained
in that solitary flight.


i ran my hand over it.
i like that bone sigh.

it's up to us, isn't it?