human words that saved my life
Human words that saved my life is a place to share the impact of human words on your life.
Come back often to be fed by these human words! Contributors interpret this page however they feel so called. To contribute, see our info below!
Catherine Fountain, (Boone, NC)
foundsound recorded on a train from Helsinki
reading - recorded at home
On the foundation of being
I am not dust
Yet I find myself
In the foundations
Of my soul
I am not dust
And in the foundations
Of my being
There are particles of living
There are particles of life
I am not dust
I am in the foundations
And I will dust myself down
And build upwards and outwards
I am not dust
—Shelagh Atkinson
(South Lanarkshire, Scotland)
For more information on work of Shelagh Atkinson visit:
The Comfort of Words
Reading, writing, and learning poetry by heart is for me a way of surviving and staying sane (well somewhat sane) in our current times.
These lines from the poem “Now Everything Becomes Dear” written during the Covid pandemic have become a continuing mantra, reminding me to slow down and to offer gratitude for simple things that could be taken for granted.
“Now everything becomes dear:
Clean water, simple food
Time
This slow day
This deep breath.”
Now Everything Becomes Dear
Now everything becomes dear
Sounds of rain on the tin roof
And the stream rushing its way
Over stones to the quiet of the lake,
The creaking rhythm of a rocking chair
And the crackling comfort of fire
On the broad stone hearth,
The moment the pale, still present sun
Casts shadows across the mountains,
Tiny sparrows who keep on
Building their nest under the eaves
In the corner of the porch
And three wild turkeys
Marching bravely toward the forest.
Now everything becomes dear
The voice of a loved one on the phone
The look of wonder on a child’s face
Clean water, simple food
Time
This slow day
This deep breath.
—Sally Atkins
published in Hermit Feathers Review, 2022-23.
"Gökotta" is a Swedish word that means "to get up early specifically to go outside to hear the birds sing". It comes from the Swedish word "gök", which means "cuckoo", and the Old Norse word "ótta" that means "the time of the day between night and dawn". I use the word mainly when I'm talking to myself, and, I use it perhaps more generally than I should to refer to any getting up very early to be in nature (whether with birds or sans birds). I use it, for example, to refer to the start-in-the-dark-just-before-dawn hikes I have done each week for the past three years. These are not only immensely enjoyable, but also deeply
calming and grounding. I'm not sure that the word "gökotta" has actually saved my life, but the kinds of activities it denotes have certainly enhanced my time on this planet beyond measure.
Patricia Johann (Boone, NC)
Lauri Whyte (Sugar Grove, NC)
Joanna Leigh Osmond.
(Recited in County Cork, Ireland)
I don't know of any word or words that "saved my life,"unless "Tom, would you be happier going to the public high school for your senior year?" counts.
I have found much inspiration in song lyrics, however.
"Then the time will come when you'll see we're all one, and life flows on within you and without you" (George Harrison: Within you and Without You by the Beatles) is a big one.
Also, lines from Express Yourself by Charles Wright: "What ever you do, do it good. It's not what you look like when you're doin' what you're doin', but what you're doin' when you're doin' what you look like you're doin'.
Tom Whyte, (Sugar Grove, NC)
Counting
1.
One is for…two is for…
One is for…two is for…
Out my art studio window there fly a gaggle of crows -
I know it’s a murder, but I don’t like the word.
I get to choose my words carefully now. It’s my poem.
2.
Visiting my son at college I find my anxiety
rising; we cartwheel off each other as we walk
down the hall.
I must remember to choose my words
carefully. I say the wrong thing anyways.
Twice.
One is for…two is for…
One is for…two is for…
3.
My arms are covered in blues and whites.
I’m repainting the kitchen to feel
like the ocean. All morning long this
crow sits out my window
as if waiting for a sign that it’s time to fly.
4.
Sometimes my words are blurred letters
moving; sometimes I want to pin them in place
with a stiletto’s touch.
Sometimes I think they are filled with my
meaning, but they have always been moving.
We have always been moving.
5.
I am seventeen at her bedside, watching my mother’s
breath intently. I need words from her
lips so I won’t go hungry without her. She
is delirious and frustrated as she tries to communicate:
One is for…two is for…
One is for…two is for…
I don’t understand it — and in a week she’s gone.
6.
I grow up looking for signs everywhere. Will
this animal be my answer? Will this song be?
This dream?
7.
Walking with my son across campus, he is
irritated and anxious and wishes I would say
less. I scroll on my phone when an image
shines up at me — there’s a line of crows
heralding an old nursery rhyme:
One is for sorrow,
Two is for mirth,
Three’s a funeral,
Four’s a birth —
I look at our breath blowing a mist out
ahead of us.
He says he needs to head back to his dorm.
He says he needs to take a nap.
He says we are both so sensitive.
He holds out his arms and says
I love you, Mom.
—joanna leigh osmond (Boone, NC) (from She Draws Her Circle)
Guidelines for adding your words
EMAIL TO: humanwordsproject@gmail.com
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—written word, spoken word, or image
—It can be a piece of prose or poem (max 250 words), an image of original art in any other media that could be posted to the site about a word or words that saved your life, (you define this yourself), and exploring how or why.
—You could talk about a piece of someone else’s writing or song or spoken word and its effect on you, or a real life encounter.
—If you have another burning desire to contribute a thing and don’t know where it fits, get creative, this community loves it, and just send it!
When you submit your work:
—Full name and email and place you hail from, or tell us you would like to use your first name only.
—Please consider sending a small photo of yourself so we can locate you humans in space (not required).
—All works will be credited to the authors. You will retain copyright to any original work that you choose to share. We ask that, if the words you choose are not yours and appear in another published work, you name the work and excerpt no more than a line or two from it to reproduce here.
We are committed to only lifting up words that do not espouse or commit violence, in our judgment.
—We look forward to it! C and J and hwp