Packaging
...what lies beneath?
Julie Leoni
What happens
when you peel away the celophane
from your
airtravelled roses and smell
nothing?
What happens when the confident laughing girl you met last night
wakes up beside you smudged, barefaced and vulnerable?
What happens when we take children
out of their uniforms
and see individuals instead of
data?
What would happen if we opened the coffins
and let the sweet smell of
the insipient rotting of beloved flesh
awaken us to
remembering
what matters as we live?
Artful policies,
shrink-wrapping complexity
into bite sized breakfast bars
to be eaten on the run
as we run on empty.
Packaged in our warm homes,
enchanted by the spell of screens,
eating plastic food,
blandly
similarly
regularly.
Tear it all away.
Tear off the shrink wrapped,
suffocation
and plunge your hands into deep dark earth,
throw your head back to let the sharp night air run its knives across your frail and mortal skin.
Howl at the burning forests
the melting ice
the famine
the drought
allow yourself to feel the terror
of what we face.
Slaver
stalk
sniff
lick
your way to wilderness,
to your own
atrophying species
and
use your
claws,
your jaws,
your guts,
to
tear away the plastic
to the flesh
of life beneath.
(Photo: Wendy Corniquet)
Julie Leoni
Coach, author, podcaster, facilitator, Yoga and psychology teacher, learner
I have over 30 years of experience and qualification in various therapeutic and meditation/mindfulness based approaches. I work with change. Some changes we chose, others happen to us. Sometimes we know we want to change but don't know how. Sometimes we don't want to change but external events or people are forcing us to change. The menopause, children leaving home, the end of a relationship or job, becoming a parent, coming out, bereavement are just some of the personal changes I support people with. I also work with people who want to make changes to their life and wider world in response to social issues such as Covid, the climate crisis and racial, sexual and gender inequalities. Times are changing whether we want them to or not and we need to be nimble, agile, curious and open in order to part of the new story emerging. Work with me to get clear on what matters to you, what makes your heart sing and what kind of future you want for yourself and those you love. It is possible to live differently, get in touch to explore how.
