When culture does not nourish you
the Soul’s food can only be gotten by standing apart
away from
at the edge of the forest, solitary

when the sense of Belonging,
that arises from kinship with the world around you,
crumbles
when the places and faces you find yourself in, around
cannot see or hear you
because they cannot reflect what they don’t see in themselves
you feel adrift
estranged from
a stranger in a world of strangers

slowly, then, now
it is necessary to re-member yourself
back into the fabric of Existence,
for which you are so required
so needed and wanted

it is time to re-member who you are,
to whom, to what, you truly belong

you belong to the words, the images,
the flowers and trees
you belong to the waters of whatever moves you,
whatever needs you
what calls your heart closer
what draws you toward it, in joy
you belong to the riverbeds and forests
and volcanos of your imagination

you belong to what calls your Soul onward

your Calling is tied to your sense of Belonging in the World
You Belong to what Calls Your Soul
and, if you do not follow what truly calls you, you will not feel you belong

take your time with this precious self re-member-ing
do not curse the solitude that harbors truer answers for you
do not distract yourself from this holy task by constantly checking your email
or bemoan the boredom and sickness you deeply feel when you are bored sick of this narrative of Being

because this is what you have been taught:
purpose and meaning measured by how you fit into what’s already here,
a master template created for only a small few
to forget that everything real is birthed at the edge of darkness & different
…this is why you feel so alone, so sad, lost

your purpose, your Calling, is to bring water
to whatever is dry, parched, dying
to give eyes to those who cannot see what you do
to give ears to those who cannot hear what you can
when so many do not notice: “I notice” is manna
when so many do not see: “I see” is visionary
when so many are distracted: “I am here” is angelic
to offer yourself, then,
-as a Soul Poet, Healer, Artist, Writer, Mother, Lover, Feel-er-
to the Beauty of the World
and to Recognize Your Self as necessary to it’s very Being

Stop waiting for the Invitation.
It will not come. It will never arrive.

This, then, is how to Belong to the World again:
You must claim your place in it.

So.
You don’t chop off your legs to fit into a round hole that has been ready-dug for you to whither and die into
instead, you bend your body with the riverbed
because this is what fits You
You say, over and over: NO. I will do it like this…
You lay with the Stars
You practice Night Vision
and when you do, you give water to the parched and starving
to those who Soul re-member through you
most vitally, you choose to serve your Soul
you make your Divinity –your Truth– your Master

Claim it now: I am a Poet of the Soul
I am a Lover of Beauty
I am essential to the Soul of a World so thirsty
for what I have:
gifts that hard edges and forests and night terrors and wounded creatures and salty tears have given me

Your Place in the True World- the Real World- requires you to claim it

it is not given, a reward for obedience and acquiescence and dis-member-ment
(you do not want that world)
it is born of making friends with that particular Darkness of yours,
of rejection, abandonment, different-ness, and pain
all that is unwanted and unloved
all the untrue world refuses to acknowledge as valuable and True
and letting it breathe and move through you, as your very lifeblood
allowing it to create… nourish…enrich…take you to new places

to break from the untrue world that forgets anything it cannot use and then discard
you must decide to stop doing to yourself what the world does to you
-de-value your: pain, seeing, knowing, feeling-
you must decide to stop criticizing, holding back,
stopping yourself right when you are on the brink of genius adventures and discovery
You must decide to stop gaslighting your own sensitive Awareness
Your deeply feeling, knowing, Nature
You must decide that you will not be used, and that you will not go away

say this instead, know it in your viscera, feel it in your bones:
Darkness has given me Everything that Matters 
gifts, abilities, perceptive insight, knowing, a certain gentleness, compassion
ability to behold Everything in Truth
this leaving nothing out, nothing in the shadows,
this embracing of what’s strange
Darkness has given you this

stop cursing the Blessing
honor. the. gifts.

Right here and now, make the ground on which you stand
Sacred and True
“I Belong because I Exist”
I Am called to creatures, tress, moonlight, Truth, and All of Beauty
because
my very noticing
my very seeing
is necessary for All of Existence

Do this, and you will see that you are
and have always been
held,
connected with,
apart of,
and necessary to
beautifully woven into the fabric of the Universal pattern Itself

Do this, and you will stop looking for water where there is none
Be determined:
You will find your own water
You will know exactly where to find it exactly when you need it

Do this, and you have finally stopped hesitating and waiting… for validation, recognition, belonging
you have simply stopped. waiting.
for you have deemed your Soul’s work Necessary and True
and you have firmly, decidedly, claimed your Sacred Place in the World

Right now: Call yourself back into your Calling,
into loving all that you Love, with reverent abandonment
bless Darkness as Teacher, gift-giver of Awareness
bless your Self
and allow Conscious Universe to welcome you into the greatest sense of Belonging you will ever know