Disclaimer & Declaration (A Poem)

I am not your backstage pass
to the true scene of the cosmos,
your exit off of suffering’s highway,
your path to the Source,
the answer to all your questions,
the lighthouse that cuts through
your discombobulation

I am not your shelter of safety
in a world of cruelty,
your nourishing Mommy,
your protective Daddy,
your vending machine dispensing
all the attachment candy bars
that will fulfill those frozen childhood needs

I am not your blank canvas,
your knight-shaped shining saviour,
your goat-made punching bag,
your open season screen to
project every person that’s ever hurt you,
let you down or promised you forever

I’m not the one healing you,
I’m not the one transforming you,
I’m not the one aligning you with your destiny

I’m not responsible
for saving you, for fixing you
(Do you even need to be saved?
Do you even need to be fixed?)
I’m not responsible for
living your life

What I am responsible for
Is what we’ve consented to
Is to try to prevent harm to you
Is to repair harm that I’ve done to you
Is to be what I be

And I ask that you also
For the same things
Be responsible to me

Because
When I perform art for you,
when I share knowledge with you,
when I am in ceremony with you,
when you see pieces of me publicly,
it’s actually more than just you
and just me

Each individual is also a feature
Of the body of our families
These families a feature
Of the body of our communities
These communities a feature
Of the body of our societies

When an individual is
Unwell or harmed
They do not just have symptoms
They also are a symptom
For a culture, a system

Don’t forget who I am in this
That I’m more than the knowledge I share
That I’m more than the healing I share
That I’m more than the art I share
That I’m more than the mistakes I make
And that “more” isn’t just for you
Sometimes it’s for everyone
Sometimes it’s only for me

Don’t forget who I am in this
Flawed and forging myself
In a system with you
Who is also forging yourself
In a system with me
And the stars, the moon, the sun,
The land, the waters, the air,
The plants, the animals, the tools,
The ancestors of blood lineage,
The ancestors of taught lineage,
The spirits within,
The spirits around

We’re all in this together
Forging ourselves
To repair the harm we’ve done together
To heal from the harm in our selves together

I, alone, will not be responsible
For anything more or
For anything less
Than my sovereign self’s actions

We, together, are responsible
For our collective actions

Dear stranger
Dear student
Dear friend
Dear colleague
Dear lover
Dear adult

It is the healthy system we’re in
that’s healing you
It is the changing system we’re in
that’s transforming you
It’s the co-creating system we’re in
that’s aligning you with your destiny

We are responsible together
To what we’ve consented to
To try to prevent harm to each other
To repair harm that we’ve done to each other
To be what we be