23 Comments
Mar 20Liked by Courtney Martin

Preposterously beautiful 💗

Expand full comment
Mar 20Liked by Courtney Martin

I happily welcome any form of writing from you. I hope one day there will be a sequel to Learning in Public. I cannot remember whether you have a book project underway now that you have mentioned to us.

Names. It is a flag, of course, to be forgetting the labels for people and things, but when it comes to it, pods of whales know each other, prides of lions, herds of elk... and I would say there is love among them, but they don't attach to each other the label of a name. Whales recognize family across the ocean by a particular commonality in their songs that acts like a last name. For some animals it is a family smell. It's the rest of it, that feeling of belonging to each other, that matters.

What we need is not to know each others names but to feel deeply that we belong to each other, across peoples and across species. and we should be aware and thoughtful about what we need to do to embrace that bond.

Expand full comment
author

YES YES YES. I love this. Thank you.

Expand full comment

stunningly beautiful and melancholy for the moment we must try so hard to inhabit these days...my daily mantra these past months has been, "gentle, gentle..." Thank you.

Expand full comment

"My friend also said it felt like an ocean baptism

and that it was hard not to slip into the sea with the whale.

Her partner held her legs.

My daughters hold mine.

That big sister holds her brother.

We must hold hold hold on.

Be preposterously gentle with ourselves despite all the

forgetting."

Oof. Thank you for this. I needed it today.

Expand full comment
Mar 20Liked by Courtney Martin

beautiful

Expand full comment
Mar 21Liked by Courtney Martin

We all hang on when we need to. Sometimes are harder to see why than others. Pay it forward in small ways. Karma is a real thing.

Expand full comment
Mar 21Liked by Courtney Martin

Hi. I’m thinking about “trying to resist the unearned metaphors” and that is only the beginning of this beautiful lively poem…full of images and ending with connections.

Thanks for your thoughts over time courage and humility.

Inspiring also.

Expand full comment
Mar 21Liked by Courtney Martin

Aw, love this 🖤

Expand full comment
Mar 21Liked by Courtney Martin

Beautiful

Expand full comment
Mar 20Liked by Courtney Martin

I loved listening while I read your words. Stunning.

Expand full comment
Mar 20Liked by Courtney Martin

So much holding on, these days. One arm for the generation ahead, one for the generation behind.

Expand full comment

Wonderful! DD

Expand full comment
Mar 20Liked by Courtney Martin

Balm for the soul. Thank you ❤️

Expand full comment
Mar 20Liked by Courtney Martin

Lovely and touching poem, which says so much. I think so much of the world can relate. Thanks for being courageous in offering your thoughts in whatever form they may flow.

Expand full comment
Mar 20Liked by Courtney Martin

Lovely poem and sentiment. Also loved the podcast on caring for loved ones with dementia. Thank you for sharing that episode with the world.

Expand full comment
Mar 20Liked by Courtney Martin

So beautifully deep. Thank you for giving us these gorgeous glimpses and the word preposterously!!

Expand full comment