alone
on the outlaws and angels in the far reaches of us
Welcome to your weekly Portal.
THE THRESHOLD
What is your relationship with solitude like? Do you rush to fill it with productivity or scrolling or does the constant low hum of other people’s lives always interrupt moments of alone time? We’re often taught that spending time alone with ourselves is something to be optimised and managed rather than savoured.
But, what if solitude is not an absence but a presence? And, the far reaches of ourselves are not frightening but full of wildness and wisdom?
What if sometimes the most nourishing company we can keep is our own?
This week’s poem is an invitation into that fullness. Read it as permission to be alone and to discover how far from lonely that actually is.
THE POEM
ALONE from Reunion Songs When I spend time alone I am never lonely. In fact, I keep company with outlaws and angels in the far reaches of me. Here, I am not awkward, broken or a stranger. I am weightless, free, still enough to hear the land, sea and sky speak to me. In this place I do not jump at every little thing or fight the magic. I am never hungry or afraid. I am only tasting beauty with my trembling questions, a seasoned traveller through time on my breath alone.
THE PRACTICE
The poem names what becomes possible in solitude - weightlessness, freedom, and communion with the world around us. This week’s practice is to give yourself one deliberate hour of solitude without an agenda. Simply time alone with yourself, in whatever way feels most nourishing.
If you can, take yourself outside away from screens. Let the magic in and notice what company arrives when you stop filling the space.
If writing calls to you, find the prompt that feels most true and write from it for five minutes without stopping:
“When I am alone I keep company with …”
“The outlaw in me is … the angel in me is …”
“In the far reaches of me I find …”
THE THREAD
This week, find one moment of genuine solitude. The kind where you are still enough to hear the land, sea and sky speak. Know you are not alone. You are full of your own outlaws and angels. Let them keep you company.
Yours in radical hope … Amanda
P.S. Most of the poems in The Portal live in my collection Reunion Songs - poems for reconnection and remembering yourself home. The limited edition hardback is available at amandacooke.com, and the paperback can be ordered from your local bookshop or online in all of the usual places. If these Sunday evening letters have moved something in you, the whole collection is waiting.
You are receiving this because you chose to. Thank you. If this moved something in you, would you be willing to share it? Together we can create a more just, connected and loving world.
enjoyable
Don