Dear Reader,

It's April; spring's here in Cambridge. The days are beautiful, and yet, I'm also aware of violence and injustice.

I want to share a poem from my book I Say the Sky, a poem about coming to accept one's own story, while also seeing the ways in which none of us is separate.

It can sound easy to say we're all interconnected, but being interconnected isn't easy. In my writing classes, one of the things students struggle with most is how to tell their own stories when their stories are connected to the stories of others: what's theirs to tell and what is someone else's?

In my Writing to Heal Class, one of the most important steps for healing is claiming one's own story, one's own feelings. If we're always worried about protecting others, if we don't allow ourselves to feel and express our own emotions, we won't be able to heal. The page is a safe place.

And then we can think about others when we share our writing; mindfulness teaches us discernment. We are both independent and interconnected. This poem is, in part, about that: our actions affect everyone, even the birds. And yet, each of us is also distinct, a unique individual. Literature can remind us of the both/ and.

Today Like Yesterday

and the day before: it’s happening.

It’s so simple, I hardly need any language.
Right there, through the window.

And in the trees, hardly visible, the birds
are back and going about their own business.

Do they remember their long journey?
The tall buildings, the wires?

Are they singing for the ones who are absent?
Are they, like me, singing to welcome in the dawn?

While everyone else in my family is sleeping,
the city is taken over by their song.

And everything, bathed in the silver light of morning,
is part of another story and its own.

I wrote this poem, as I did many of the poems in I Say the Sky, early in the morning, at that time between night and day when the light is returning, that time when there is often a greater clarity.

Today, I want to share a collection of morning poems written across times and cultures; I offer prompts for each poem.

I put this collection of poems together a few years ago, but I've also added my poem (above) and a poem by the wonderful Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad and prompts for both.

In any period of transition, whether it's the transition from night into day or any other period of change, poetry can be a companion.

These poems are a reminder and testament to both our unique individual and cultural qualities and our shared space here as living beings—humans and otherwise on this sacred earth.

They're also a testament to the fact that people, like birds, are meant to sing, that it's in our nature to express ourselves, and that we turn to song and poetry in times of transition to express both our greatest joys and our greatest sorrows.

I hope you enjoy the poems and use the prompts to write and to express yourself :)

With blessings, and I hope you have a good weekend!
Nadia

PS: As always, as a writer and writing teacher, I help students use literature as a means of expression, understanding, and growth. But it's never either/ or. Continue to express yourself to your loved ones and in the larger cultural and political realms as well—we can't give up on believing that our voices matter.