Dear Alice Walker,
Alice, you are a national treasure. I have a profound love for your work as an activist and as an author, so I would like to share my love with you. You have an internal flame that is so beautiful. You are one of the few women on this Earth that causes me to stop whatever it is that I am doing the moment I hear your voice. You shared your life, your garden, and your beautiful home and memoirs with viewers for almost 3 hours last May, (see this amazing video here) and I continue to draw inspiration from your perspective, your passions, and your detail for life and all that is within. You balance the world by sharing.
In your May 2008 interview, you share the pain and anxiety experienced in your childhood and how life events have shaped you - as an author, you bring a spiritual perspective that has forged a union with your heart. You share how you keep your last name in memory of your Grandmother, as a former slave that lived to be 125 years old. She walked with her children... she was relentless... and she did this tirelessly. Your love of nature and the "oneness" that you found with the clouds, animals and the world is truly inspirational. You are a peace activist, and your activities in seeking solidarity with humanity is renowned. You also have a message of love that brings tears as each book is read. And it is great to know that (as you stated), tears "are made to simply wash your window."
In almost every story that you write, men transform themselves. Emotions dance. From the Cuban revolution to the Iraqi and Afghan War, you purge through the war torn landscape to find beauty, the indifference, and the distance that we need to move away from the pain of life. War is the known, but the children who suffer, the refugees that need shoes - this is the unknown that you bring to life. You acknowledge life, nature and the spirit of life. As humans, we are not perfect, but we are alive, and we are beautiful. And we all fit into a puzzle that creates a symbiotic existence that is nature in itself. We are all a planet. And just as you find pleasure in sharing the value of taking in your breath as you embrace a stranger, you see life through a lens that is placid, cozy, and angelic.
And your thoughts on water amazes me. You share a story about water being a "wonderful gift" as you celebrated its divinity by writing a book about it. You mentioned that we, as humans, are mostly water... "so when I am looking at you, I am looking at water, and how can I not honor that?" You are so deep. I connect with you, or should I say, ..."my window is so awash." It's not art that is introduced through the details; it's how you live within the elements to bring out life.
You also wrote a letter to President Obama (read this letter here). It is great to know that great people write letters of encouragement and support without any preconceptions. You are humbling. I am now inspired to write more letters.
You share how important it is to meditate; this is something that I hope to build more into my life. I am so inspired by you and your love for Love. You speak of Love as a prerequisite of living, and as each second of life is treasured and embraced, it is with Love that each moment is endured. Thank you for "The Color Purple" - you wrote that amazing story in only one year... amazing. Thank you for your philanthropy, and thank you for your inspirations.
Love,
The MANChild Swagga
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To My Readers,
Can you believe that Alice is 65 years young? Enjoy the connection. And enjoy a few of my favorite quotes from Alice Walker, as well as a great poem that reveals my heart and so many others that write with passion.
"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any."
— Alice Walker
"No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow."
— Alice Walker
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men."
— Alice Walker
"I am an expression of the divine, just like a peach is, just like a fish is. I have a right to be this way...I can't apologize for that, nor can I change it, nor do I want to... We will never have to be other than who we are in order to be successful...We realize that we are as ourselves unlimited and our experiences valid. It is for the rest of the world to recognize this, if they choose."
—Alice Walker (The Color Purple)
Alice Walker
Letting go
In order to hold one
I gradually understand
How poems are made.
There is a place the fear must go.
There is a place the choice must go.
There is a place the loss must go.
The leftover love.
The love that spills out
Of the too full cup
And runs and hides
Its too full self
In shame.
I gradually comprehend
How poems are made.
To the upbeat flight of memories.
The flagged beats of the running
Heart.
I understand how poems are made.
They are the tears
That season the smile.
The stiff-neck laughter
That crowds the throat.
The leftover love.
I know how poems are made.
There is a place the loss must go.
There is a place the gain must go.
The leftover love.
“Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you I had no control over.”
