Petals for the Buddha

300 words | 3 min. audio — on writing for myself

PETALS FOR THE BUDDHA
On Writing for Myself

by Maja Apolonia Rodé

Before we begin again, 

let’s get one thing straight:

I am writing these poems for myself.

Now,

I could mean those words in the sense that:

Everything is what I am, so who

else would I be writing for?

And I do mean them

that way.

Or,

I could mean them in the sense that 

these poems may never reach 

the eyes of another soul.

And I mean it

that way,

too.

But

mainly

what I mean is:

I need these poems. 

There

is suffering

in the body of my soul 

and somehow these writings are,

for me, 

as close to the right medicine 

as I can find.

Writing poems

is how I travel deep

into the rainforest of my psyche 

to find the ancient medicines growing there 

and cook up some tea for my recovery

or rather uncovery of this

beautiful and 

precious 

life.

For me,

writing a poem is, on a good day,

like a long walk in the woods — 

medicine in itself.

For me,

the quest for real words, 

the quest for pure, subjective nonfiction 

is a perpetual and rhythmic returning 

to the ancient and ever-new

ground of my being —

a rediscovery

of that

which brings my soul to life, 

that which makes my being here 

as real as real was ever

meant to

be.

I

don’t know 

if you will resonate with

what you read, 

but I will

place my poems

on the altar of my love for you, 

like sweets at the feet of Ganesh, 

like petals on the

palm

of the Buddha,

like burning incense

that blesses and proclaims 

the open field of your awareness 

as a holy and sacred space 

where All Is One, where

all the miraculous

somethings 

dance.

•

❤ 2019-2024

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