the power of three

Saturday night found me at the Grand Slam Finals of the Annual Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam. Riding thru a city with people in green spilling out of every vaguely Irish tavern, it struck me as fitting that I was going to a poetry slam. The Irish love the word, and words were what was being celebrated tonight at the Masonic Hall, high atop one of our most prestigious hills, Nob Hill.

Perfect too, given my current ruminations on listening, silence, and speaking. The Master of Ceremony of the evening was the incredible Beau Sia, and he started out saying something to the tune of “Make some noise; your silence won’t protect you”. “Make some noise” is the refrain of all the Youth Speaks events I’ve gone to. It means giving the poets a rousing applause, and of course, it means speaking out.

In Youth Speaks culture, speaking out and speaking up is a virtue, each sentence crafted to be an arrow of truth aimed at opening hearts and changing minds. The teenagers are courageous, revealing with their poems lives and experiences that most teens are encouraged to keep silent, with the diversity of these lives and experiences being truly stunning. By the end, I couldn’t absorb any more. I was full, satiated. The arrows had all found their mark, my heart was open, my mind swirling with new ways of looking things. One other poem would have been overkill.

Last night found me on Bernal Hill, one of San Francisco’s few green hills, which lies south of downtown and provides a breathtaking view of the larger city. I was at a candlelight vigil for peace, one of many around the country and around the city. Pieces of paper were passed around which contained snippets of stories about those who have died in the war. We each read one of these passages, and between each passage we paused and had a moment of silence. “Pause for reflection” was written on the paper. Perfect.

Pause for reflection. This spring equinox the mighty power of air, of the east, of beginnings, of breathe, of our silence and our words is making itself known. Thank you, Guardians of the East! As I breathe, I notice the threefold power of the breath, the taking in, the pause, the letting go. Listening, pausing for reflection, speaking out, these three things, like our breath itself, are best done in balance. I wanted silence after Youth Speaks, I wanted time to reflect on what I heard. And, I dearly want to use my words as agents of peace.

May there be peace on earth. May there be deep listening, deep reflection, and words like arrows that open hearts and minds and inspire us to become more peaceful people. In balance, like our breath, we can truly live. Happy Equinox!