I AM THE HEALING



Chant to end the wars
Chant to start the acceptance
Chant to subdue cruelty
Chant to escalate bravery
Chant to finalize brutality
Chant to commence tolerance
Chant because the hibiscus
Chant because the harvest moon
Chant because the loon
Chant because his suicide
Chant because her birth
Chant the rosary of forgiveness
Chant the prayer rug of grace
Chant the psalm of unbrokenness
Chant the of hymn of mercy
Chant the tzitzits of compassion
Chant the misbaha of benevolence
Chant when grief makes it hard to speak
Chant when privilege makes it easier to look away
Chant when it’s your pain
Chant when it’s their agony
Chant when the coyote howls and know all beings long for home
Chant when the owl dives silently to its prey and know all beings hunger
Chant to soothe yourself
Chant to add your voice to the collective supplication for love
Chant because in a broken world silence is the ultimate sin
Chant the fishes and loaves so there is enough
Chant Blessed Are so everyone is lifted up
Chant Tao Tao Tao and be the path
Chant I Am
Chant I Am
Chant I Am the Healing


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When she isn’t writing poetry about big hair and the painful state of the world, Kim Baker works to end violence against women and haunts museums and galleries for poetic inspiration. A poet, playwright, photographer, and NPR essayist, her poems and essays have been published online and in print. Kim’s chapbook Under the Influence: Musings about Poems and Plays is available from Finishing Line Press.