Honoring Our Elders


Prose| Poetry| Learning from the past


Honoring our Elders

Hearing words of wisdom

Photo by Wren Meinberg on Unsplash

The rain falls, like twisted past flooding thoughts — remembering the heartfelt and bleeding storylines of yesteryear. Numb — melancholic remembrance of scar tissues evaporating songs.

All things — all dreams — all realities colliding and intertwining — past to present, and future outlook obsessing of what may or may not be true. Invitation sent — all players that make up the whole — sitting beside each other, fighting over right and wrong. 

Wisdom of the elders — called forward — age-old historical record teaching deeper connections to mother’s calling winds. Intently hearing the voices of the past — recalling a better way of living — buried by the casting shadows of golden rays warming light.

~ Ani Po


In his book, The Myth of Normal, Gabor Mate and His son writes about how childhood traumas can cause roadblocks or disease later in life. Unattended to, our cells fester, waiting to explode — pleading to be heard.

Crying out for greater understanding, we ignore, mask, or honor them — releasing everything leading up to this point.

Not in the literal sense but in allegory, our traumas and addictions of the past teach us valuable wisdom within this canvas of life.

As a child, indirectly taught how not to be, afflictions becoming our elders and traumas themselves molding into the present version of self just as the physical — living elders are sharing their wisdom, traumas of the past carrying similar songs not yet understood. In gratitude, submersing ourselves in the past subservient ways, no longer — lingering holds of what’s been told.

What if we treat our traumas, addictions and afflictions as elders to a greater understanding of self and how the world has formed to be? Honoring our Elders, like those sitting by the fire — sharing wisdom for all to take home to their neighboring village.


Thank you Diana C., Ravyne Hawke, Spyder, and the whole Know Thyself Heal Thyself family for sharing this sacred space.

Much gratitude for those who take time to read, ponder, and allow the inner workings of self to come forward. Grateful for the feedback, love shared, and, more importantly, the Dance with Inspiration. Deep Peace.

Joseph Lieungh

Photo by Javardh on Unsplash

The Stronger the Hold


The Stronger the Hold

Greater the purge

Photo by Laura LaBrie on Unsplash

It began with the storyteller’s vision or spirit’s dream — calling him to the Peruvian jungle — which began atop a Mayan temple speaking to villagers below. Oljita — keen on a similar vision — the storyteller invites Oljita to finish the story.

I emerged from an inner temple atop the Jaguar temple — located in Tical Mexico — heart-filled message flowing through — a spirit-charged offering to the villagers below.

Smiling — storyteller invites Oljita to Peru on an upcoming adventure. Traveling the Amazonian river — slow boat versus fast boat — a difference in time and whether pirates have time to catch up. They traveled into the jungle, landing in Contamana, greeted by new friends and family.

Recalling the seven nights — purging old thoughts and holding on as long as he could. The stronger the hold — the greater the purge. Some nights were more excruciating than the next — finishing on paradise’s shore.

The dragon approaches the vial depths of the purging soul — sludge’s scraping of inner depths of hidden secrets. With head hanging deep into the toxic container of self-knowledge — a sweetness like never before — once a cesspool of waste, now emerging rainbow’s illuminating lotus flower.

Aya speaks — let go and open the many layers of what were — allowing all to witness the emerging blossom within. Pedals were peeling outward — layer by layer — exposing the fruits of one’s own labor.

Sweet as the grass — lavender hints and hibiscus returns — Oljita falls into his mother’s peaceful embrace. Toxic sludge — switch-word blossoming songs — paradise was never a place but the journey itself — in and of itself.

~ Ani Po


Thank you Ravyne Hawke for this prompt in Promptly Written. It triggered a memory of when I went to Peru for the first time. Purging the past, emerging present-future day.


Much gratitude for those who take time to read, ponder, and allow the inner workings of self to come forward. Grateful for the feedback, love shared, and, more importantly, the Dance with Inspiration. Deep Peace.

Joseph Lieungh

Photo by Javardh on Unsplash