May 8, 2018
"Hope is a spacious place. It's so full of possibility."
Chantale has a way with words that is a little hypnotic. And she has a way with ideas. Hope, for her, is a red balloon that expands your chest so you can breathe a little more easily.
Much like her balloon, or more accurately, because of her balloon, this is a conversation that expands - into mental health, the vagaries of babies that interrupt interviews, what keeps us awake at night, climate change, what a better future means, Brene Brown's vulnerability hangovers, messiness - and into a conversation about conversation, stories and words. About the things that make us human.
And here is the poem that she shares with us - it's worth lingering over:
357/365 // the balloon // #365daysofpoetry
Love, mistaking my heart
for a balloon,
took a deep breath
and blew
and now it sits
uncomfortably tight in my chest,
swollen against ribs
that creak under the strain
drifting upwards
until my toes barely
touch the ground
I am adrift
in newly awoken hope
(Chantale Roxanas)