8The cluttered mind was now evidenced on the freshly written pages of my journal. A verbal regurgitation of my worries and fears that didn't bring me the clarity I was seeking. Then, out of nowhere, a word captured my attention, a simple phrase sung in my heart, and a poem was coded like a download onto a computer. And it eased my pain and gave me hope. So I did it again... and again... and again.

Poetry is the experience of us. A storyteller of our hearts and imaginations that is wonderfully personal and curiously universal. Poetry...subtle, elusive, nonlinear, and unrestrained, warmly greets you at the door, providing what you need, giving what you're open to receiving. There is nothing to analyze, no one right way to understand since poetry transports us out of our minds and into that intuitive dwelling within all of us that just knows. It's that place that brings us a pure and unseasoned perspective, filled with vitality and compassion, on the old and worn.

Poetry, a vehicle to self-discovery, offers us the space to experience vulnerability and humility, an openness and strength not seen every day in this coping-addicted, plastic world that's uncommonly intriguing. Behind the masks we wear in our daily masquerade, we recognize ourselves in its offerings we call poems and creates a sense of belonging and healing. Through someone else's story, we get a greater sense of our own. A few words, arranged in a certain order, can change the world.

Our world. Your world. A world where, more than ever, we need to pull together, not push apart. It really is quite simple in the end. After all the drama and angst, it turns out that the bottom line is...there is none. And Truth is an open vastness going nowhere in particular other than in the direction of love. But all the layers of mud you traipsed through are not fraught with naught. As you dig and clear down to the roots of you, the landscape changes from scarcity to abundance when you change your perspective from fear to love. And then everything changes in and around us, the world seen more like the view from a kaleidoscope than a telescope so we can burst forth and live a life that's flourishing.

As I continued writing, Burst & Fleurish emerged, becoming the unintended and inevitable sequel to my first book and: A love story within. To burst and fleurish is the process of getting out of your head and more into that intuitive dwelling that resides within you, that's been there all along, accessing the place that does know the answer and sometimes changes the questions, shifting your perspective to more compassion and understanding with the relationship with yourself and others, feeling more connected to your surroundings, now more kinder and gentler, being able to receive, not just give abundance and acceptance so you feel like you belong, which allows easier access to your core genius creativity so you can contribute and make a difference in this crazy world.

Poetry is contemporary, relevant, and cool because it's the language of dream makers,
journey takers, rule breakers, business shakers, soul wakers, and freedom stakers. Come dream with me to a new reality...