The ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi

Kintsugi, the art of repairing pottery with precious metals, stands in direct contrast to the “buy, use, break, throw away and replace” corporate pulse dominating current human life on Earth.  This ancient art reminds us that the story of the vessel is still within its broken parts and that bringing them together with reverence, curiosity and creativity, using materials stronger and more durable than the original, not only makes the vessel useful again, but also more precious and unique. Here are two poems that reference kintsugi in regards to “repairing” ourselves:

 

Work as hard as mushrooms

will not ever be undamaged

but like broken shards of pottery

made precious with kintsugi gold

could be assembled into a cohesive thing

 

this body still alive

a container of breakage glued together somehow

houses unbreakable wholeness

still waiting to fully occupy it all

and live

 

find me LOVE

and fill me

the cracks are marked with sunlight so hot

any emotions over flowing

will vaporize on contact

 

steam and bellow

the song of love

will be loud and proud

and free of fear or regret

 

find me now

as ready as we'll ever be

to still desire a way

to enjoy this body

and this mind

and all the devastating opportunities

to work as hard as mushrooms

at turning the vile sewer of humanity's wastes

into something truly promising and fresh

like soil

like nectar

like a poem or a song

 

Euphoria Motion (for David)

I am becoming a version of self

that isn't wasting time

comparing us to someone else

just focusing

on how to move more genuinely

through time and space

 

almost eradicated the sense of otherness

from our own body

dysphoria to presence

that some day may lead us to

happier e-motion

if your prophecy comes true

one more friend on the other side

will finally be understood

maybe there is still time 

to find out what you meant

when you gave me the name

Euphoria Motion

 

who we would be if un-wounded

who we would be if made whole

who we could be

if we accept that the cracks in our being

are indeed stitched with gold

we can never go back to the whole we might have been

if we were never torn apart

but we can possibly become

the ever undulating waves

that wash away all

but pure joy

Indigo pearl 2026

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