25 July 2024: Patchwork Heart

  Patchwork Heart

 ~ by John Roedel (published to FB 7/12/2024)

vulnerability doesn’t mean telling 

others what happened to us from 

across a cafe table or from behind a 

microphone

     and then going home from the

 experience feeling just as alone as 

you did before 

vulnerability means allowing your 

human heart blanket to get sewn to 

other heart blankets

it’s about connection

we don’t share for status

we do it for synergy 

we don’t confess for clout

we do it to build community

we tell our tale

to invite others 

to tell theirs

it’s the sacred cycle

of storytelling

we gather in a circle of trust and

say “here is my journey”

then we listen to

the other journeys

that are shared

we take space

then we give space

we pour

then we absorb

we speak

then we listen

we are storytellers 

then we are witnesses

vulnerability isn’t just about

grave digging in our past

to expose our skeletons

it’s about sewing quilts

here is my patch

here is your patch

here is their patch

here is us

        here is our story 


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