The Talons of the Phoenix and its hand-hammered log perch is the result of a collaboration of 10 members of our team. Dan DeJiacomo carried the lead on this project. We are now ready to begin adding the first feathers to the Phoenix’s legs.
Got a Grip on Where Its Going?
We talk constantly about what the Warrior StoryField is and where it will serve veterans most effectively. Would you like to join that conversation? We’d love your input.
The poem below captures our many thoughts on this important question.
. . .
What If?
What if ?
No matter how hard we deny it
No matter how deeply we stuff it
No matter how tight we
Compress it or ignore it
Or, even if we think
We have finally killed it
A Wound
left tamped down and unexpressed
will eventually find its own way to be heard
What if ?
we can not or will not listen to the wound
Will it will consume us?
Dare we say it out loud?
Dare we apply our feeble hearts this mysterious task?
What if?
What if we could create a Field of Expression that invites us to
Court the invisible wound
Speak of what we fear must remain unspeakable,
Feel what what we dare not feel
What if we built a portal walking straight into the creative tension of chaos
and in the same moment
the unbridled joy of an open heart?
What if each of us could tell our own story
Not just today’s story
but our many stories
that twist and turn and change
over a lifetime of brotherhood and sisterhood
Our stories of lost and found connections
What if we made a place?
A place where those who are unable to tell their stories
can sit in the field with those who can
A place where the story itself lives in the art
Where that art evokes emotion specific to each individual that views it
Where the story can be told through art. No language needed.
Where community forms around connection
What if?
This becomes our place to go
Our gathering place
What if this place is:
Private Enough
To build deep community
Public Enough
To be part of a greater community
Private Enough
to try something new, anything at all
Public Enough
To recite, discuss, sing, rant, cry, pray, act
Private Enough
to shed deep tears
let grief flow
to remember all those who have fallen for us
to remember all those who will fall for us
Private Enough
to allow each of us to draw on our own internal wisdom
to find our own path to health
Private Enough
to inspire meaningful ritual
Public Enough
To allow all of us to hold witness
To listen
To learn
To wonder…
What if this place
invites us over and over again
to launch our stories
like thousands of dancing kites
merging, swirling and turning in the winds
And as we watch our kite dance among the thousands
What if?
We could hear the wind whispering its simple secrets
To each of us
In a language
Only we know