Story Info

Monroe
Dianne Monroe
San Antonio, TX
2010

Story & Experience

Wounded Place: Gulf waters, from the Blue Hole, a spring that is the headwaters of the San Antonio River, which flows into the Gulf

Notes about the Experience (What participants said, what they experienced, any difference you noticed about the place at the end of your Earth Exchange, reactions, etc.):

9 people gathered at the Blue Hole to express love, compassion, grief and send acts of beauty to the gulf waters. People shared stories, feelings and tears then wandered silently on the land surrounding the spring, paying attention to all they saw, heard and felt. They were invited to gather several leaves or other things that lay on the ground that called out to them. (asking those things if they were willing to join in our act of beauty). When we gathered again at the spring, people were invited one at a time to offer their gift of beauty to the spring waters to carry to the gulf, and to place one of the leaves they had gathered into the water to symbolically carry their offering to the gulf. Offerings included a song, a Native American chant, a poem, words, feelings and wishes. We watched silently as each leaf drifted out of sight carried by the spring waters toward the Gulf. Participants expressed deep appreciation for the gathering, saying it seemed just what was called for. One woman said that she would remember this day for the rest of her life. 

A man wrote a poem that is included below:

Earth
My tears
Your rain
We belong to the sea

Wounded Place: Gulf waters, from the Blue Hole, a spring that is the headwaters of the San Antonio River, which flows into the Gulf

Notes about the Experience (What participants said, what they experienced, any difference you noticed about the place at the end of your Earth Exchange, reactions, etc.):

9 people gathered at the Blue Hole to express love, compassion, grief and send acts of beauty to the gulf waters. People shared stories, feelings and tears then wandered silently on the land surrounding the spring, paying attention to all they saw, heard and felt. They were invited to gather several leaves or other things that lay on the ground that called out to them. (asking those things if they were willing to join in our act of beauty). When we gathered again at the spring, people were invited one at a time to offer their gift of beauty to the spring waters to carry to the gulf, and to place one of the leaves they had gathered into the water to symbolically carry their offering to the gulf. Offerings included a song, a Native American chant, a poem, words, feelings and wishes. We watched silently as each leaf drifted out of sight carried by the spring waters toward the Gulf. Participants expressed deep appreciation for the gathering, saying it seemed just what was called for. One woman said that she would remember this day for the rest of her life. 

A man wrote a poem that is included below:

Earth
My tears
Your rain
We belong to the sea

San Antonio, TX

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