And The Day After

Posted on November 16, 2020November 14, 2020 by tinaoverbury

Listen to TinaO read this poem below.

A feminist on the day after the 2016 USA election

I want to complain and trash the beach

spill obnoxious tins of paint

confused by yellow shades of not-quite-green hues

all over the rocks

crash multiple bins of soot wrecking the sand

smearing clouds of murky shadows out to the wind

I am stained by this

I am slashed by this

and I want to crumple the shoreline

drenched in wax

from holding a vigil

for an exhale that turned to anguish

with no chance to settle

I am furious

I bet I can swing King Tide logs over my head

fling them

into the ocean

followed by these legs on a torso

this is no longer my body

for I have left

Instead,

I walk the beach

to make sense

of the madness

I somehow

never saw coming

I fucking hate surprises

avoidable fingers

caught in windows and snagged in doors

or train wrecks we say never happen

until they do

now

I bring

teapots and towels

rings and rodents

fire and feathers

bobbles and babies

to this water

my hair is on backwards

and my neck

lays on the ground

I am not here

She screams into the pillow

suffocating

the trembling

the shaking

and the bruised women

out from this silent

nod to misogyny in power

one hand on his bible

the other up her skirt

This is the man

they freely chose

to lead the very country where feminism

cut her teeth

so today I can walk

with multiple careers and a baby on each breast

Today I am a fraction safer on the street

even if every woman still knuckles

her keys in her hand

to reach her car

For the next four years

you will find me

smashing teapots

and bleeding into the ground

This reality

is not mine

and yet

if you visit my kitchen

you will find

I haven’t a cup left

Four years ago I woke up in shock that the world had gone mad. When Donald Trump was elected president it haunted me for days.

This is the morning after…

The day after the 2020 election, it was a very different walk on the beach for sure.

2016 and the Day After

This year on December 25th, which is both Christmas Day and my 50th Birthday, I am stepping into a new story…

and I know what I know what I know about how stories work:

Stories won’t let go of you until they’ve been fully heard.

This is release #8 of sixteen Story Hits (vlogs) from as far back as 2013. Some are my favourites, some are yours. If you missed week #1, you can start at the beginning with: Out of the Water here.

I will be writing more about these moments in both my upcoming book: STORY STONES (coming fall 2021, and in my one woman show: O MY GOD (touring spring 2021).

On my 50th Birthday, if you’re on my VIP list, I’ll be sending you 50 Days of Christmas Story Gifts from Dec. 25th to February 12th. If you want some story goodness filled with sneak peeks into the creation and rehearsal process, plus be able to pre-order the book, and order tickets to the show, click here and the let the gifting begin! (You’ll get a bunch of cool story right away)

UNDER THIS, PLEASE PUT THIS IN THE PARAGRAPH FORMAT:

I have to close one story to open another.

Thank you for listening.

Tina Overbury is a core-communications specialist who works with individuals and organizations who feel called. She is a storyteller, performer, and a professional listener who works with narrative and story structure as a vehicle for human connection. Her work is rooted in Myth, Mysticism, and the practice of personal faith. She brings thirty years of collaborative storytelling in theatre, film, marketing, team based selling, and workshop facilitation. She is the founder of Live Your Best Story, a weekend retreat of deep listening held on Bowen Island, BC, Canada and is the voice and story behind TinaOLife, home to Story Stones, TinaO’s online gathering of listening in to sacred stories. Tina is a proud associate of PowHERhouse media where she listens and supports the ‘stories’ of whole and integrated leaders of tomorrow.If you’d like to know more about TinaO’s approach to STORY and receive updates about STORY STONES the book, and O MY GOD, her one woman show, click here and you’ll be added to her ‘stay in touch’ list plus she’ll send you a few short intro videos about what story means to her. CLICK HERE for TinaO Story stuff.