Author name: Tricia La Bella

When this word was mentioned, many of us went straight to google for information! Was it a real word? Where did it come from? How is the word used? And that was all that was needed to begin that beautiful trail of wonder…

In a world today where we can continuously cover, fix, hide, re-do, to make things seem as close to perfect as we perceive is possible, have we distorted the true meaning of the word ‘perfect’ and in fact, is there any truth around this word?

The word tolerance, like every word we explore as a topic, brought a range of perspectives, which we really enjoyed discussing and sharing our personal feelings about.
In todays climate, a significant theme was around our tolerance as humans with others.
If tolerance is required, what is that saying?
Is tolerance kind? One suggestion around the ‘tolerance’ lied in a formula:
Judgement + facade = tolerance

It was the date February 14th (Valentine’s Day) that led to this week’s topic, bouquet.
Valentine’s Day also called Saint Valentine’s Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, through later folk traditions, has become a significant cultural, religious, and commercial celebration to romance and love in many regions of the world.
Interesting that the poetic expression, brought up counter themes to love and romance; abuse, expectation, conditioning and patriarchal society.

What does the word ‘puddles’ conjure for you? We had the week to let the word settle, and surprisingly, despite being in summer, there were quite a few puddles around (due to the wetter season we are experiencing), that we could get some inspiration from.
For some of us it took us back to our childhood.
For others it was the word itself that created a feeling.
And then there were the unfolding stories about journeys of the lives some had endured as children.

This topic around labels fitted well with some themes that arrived from our last session (on instincts).
Some questions around how we grow or evolve emerged and in amongst that the concept of ‘labels’ arrived.
As soon as the word was selected, the realisation that it could lead us into many directions, which it did.
It may be reflective of the times, however our talk and expression, was around dominant culture and how easy it is to be defined and things to be normalised, and the impact of that on individuals and societies.
Once again, the creativity in expression and design of the poems presented, came through.
And some new realisations and understandings brought about by the honest and deep expressions shared by members in the session. At the end of the session, we chose something very unrelated for the next week’s topic. ‘puddles’. If you wish to join in, either with a poem or without, just arrive on the night. Click here for the link