In February of 2024, we released our fifth Open Call: Using art, letters, stories, and poetry, tell us: how might we create healthy spaces and places for all? The following is a poetry submission we received from this open call.

“In 2021, I began a healing journey walking the labyrinth. It’s become such an important space to me, and I have experienced far fewer bouts of anxiety ever since discovering the labyrinth. Its benefits on wellness have been known from what looks like the beginning of time. At this stage in my life, I can’t imagine living in a place that didn’t have a labyrinth available for the community–it’s become that valuable for me.”

Charlotte Farley

“Pondering the Labyrinth Steps”

I always imagine the native stones
which line this gravel way
are ancient witnesses
to walkers like me.
I picture them here since time
immemorial, marking the past,
and now seeing me. These silent
watchers of this primitive dance
view my own slow circumnavigation
of concentric circle–each step
is slow, but somehow not matching
my breath, no matter how hard I try,
which, I remember, isn’t the point, so

I stop trying,
which is more of the point,

and I make my way, unhurried,
meandering around this giant labyrinth,
age-old path to wellbeing,
unknowingly unwinding my thoughts
as my body weaves in and out,
round and around,
making space for thoughts,
for breath,
and for me
to ebb, to flow,
to unfold.

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