(photo by Wendy Golden-Levitt)
The very best thing I received on my birthday was an email from Wendy Golden-Levitt (The therapist I sent this cloth to for use in her work with children. Do read more about her textile therapy work here, here, & here). Wendy shared that a girl had taken it for a ride in the sand tray, and had included the poem the she had created as part of her healing process.
Wendy also wrote, "When I work in the studio, with children and textiles….it is truly a community effort. The therapy facilitated by me, the child, and the cloth…a group of three really. Without all three working together it is a very different story . . . And when all is working together, the big Mystery of Healing presents itself…and there is movement from conscious suffering to a life filled with meaning. The experience of V working with your cloth was the beginning of creating a new vital personal myth, challenging the energy of the orphan and wounded child archetypes. V’s relationship to your cloth, allowed for her expression of loss and abandonment to flow through her sand tray, movement and poetry. Thus having the possibility of not identifying with those archetypes, but allowing for new energy to be experienced and valued."
The poem and Wendy's thoughts speak to everything I had hoped for while stitching the cloth. I am still working to hold the ALL of it . . . how this young girl, in another part of the world-saw, felt, knew what was in the cloth, and was able to give out so much of herself in her words and expressions. And there is also the awe and pain from the recognition of feelings that come from sharing like-experiences.
With permission from Wendy and V., who said it would be “good” to share it, here is V.'s poem:
"it don’t matter
where i dive
from the boat
she made for us kids who come here needing
heart transplants and brain transplants in a therapy way.
that boat already got some shiny things that made me smile.
i love the birds free and happy on the sails.
and the sparkle button treasures in the boat. i love that!!!!!!
put another ten!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!
it’s like a secret that is a good secret
that just makes you so happy and feel so safe.
i'm glad she made a moon , i need this cloth in my mind day and night.
see those swooshes coming out into the sky. that would be my wishes to feel good again.
i think she made this cloth
to make me not so alone.
i get alone feelings like a boat bouncing around in the ocean.
but this boat is so beautiful. i could be this boat instead of a row boat in the dark.
i love her. i feel i love her.
not marry her. but love her, right?
don’t you feel it? love? in her whole cloth?
is she married to the lady who made the magic feather cloth?
they love me don’t they?
the end.
until i go in that boat again.
don’t let any one spit on it please.
the end.
again."
-V.
I have a heart full of love and gladness . . . for V., for Wendy and this work she does, for being able to play a small part in it, for the surprising gift of some personal healing the making and sharing of this cloth has brought, for Jude, who introduced us to Wendy, and created such a meaningful community that I'm very happy to be a part of. ox