If this Poetic Interlude feels like a message or mirror, share it with someone who is looking to think about rest differently.
What is something happening (or not happening) in your life, where you are rushing the pace to force fruition? In this Poetic Interlude, Tatiana Johnson-Boria reads her poem “The Daughter Becomes Her Mother’s Body,” first published in ONLY POEMS.
Creatives, including poets, show us how to embrace our humanity and act on our truths. We in The Rest of Us community view this as a deep connection to one’s own agency — our definition of rest.
Settle into the work of Tatiana Johnson-Boria and even explore your own creativity, which we define as liberatory rest.
Poem: “The Daughter Becomes Her Mother’s Body”
Today, I am her sickled spine
yearning for earth, drawn to descent.
Gravity grounds this sadness to latch
its stubborn feet into rising mornings.
Before school, I’d watch my mother rest
against the burgeoning sun.
I’d ready myself for the walk alone
as if I’ve come from nowhere.
I wonder if her bed felt like mine
The edges reaching over. Did she
wait on this cliff, readying to
swim the waters before the swallowing?
I take 10mg of Citalopram each morning
My mother smokes a cigarette.
We both have our ways.
In the beginning, we lived in habitual dark
except I was my mother’s orb brewing.
Could this have been the place
where we were woven?
The weathered soil of lineage
doing its best to yield?
I am ruptured harvest.
The flood of the day
invites me into tomorrow.
There she is
a waking dream.
Gathering her bones
to ache forth through existence.
The sky bellows the tide
to guide these bodies.
The waves sing us through.
Reflections
It took me a very long time to find an ending to this poem. In the meantime, I worked on a long-form nonfiction narrative about mothering. I think it took at least five years working on that project to make my way to this poem and find its ending. I think it signifies the oneness and sameness I find with my mother and the acceptance and grief I have in belonging to her.
What is something happening (or not happening) in your life, where you are rushing the pace to force fruition? How can you be honest about the pace needed, so that you can truly honor what unfolds from the journey?
About the Poet
Tatiana Johnson-Boria is the author of Nocturne in Joy, winner of the Julia Ward Howe Book Prize in Poetry. She was raised in Boston, on the unceded land of the Massachusett people, and is an educator, artist, and mother. She’s received fellowships and awards from the McCormack Writing Center (formerly known as Tin House), the Massachusetts Cultural Council, The MacDowell Residency, among others. She still lives in Massachusetts with her partner and son.
WEBSITE: https://johnsonboriacreative.com/
PUBLICATIONS: Nocturne in Joy
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Meet the Host:
Dana Tenille Weekes
Dana Tenille Weekes made the conscious decision to live in a mindset of rest as self-liberation after nearly 15 years as a lawyer-lobbyist in Washington, DC. In 2020, Dana faced the darkest period of her life, which eventually led her to resign from a top global law firm and take a year-long journey of rest in 2022.
In 2023, Dana launched Thrive Architects, a strategic advising and professional development firm building advocacy, organizational health, and well-being platforms for organizations, communities, and people to thrive.
The Rest of Us podcast is one way Dana is building community for professionals and advocates on the brink of burnout to think about rest differently. If you’re interested in embracing rest as liberation, especially after the podcast episode ends, join our community where we converse, connect, cultivate, and lean into our creativity.