Copyright 2023 James C Horner

Raising my arms calms my spirit,

balances my blood pressure as I breathe.

Broadening my chest with arms wide open

unties my knotted stress.

Painting rainbows colors my anxiety.

My arms arch side-to-side like waves.

 

I circle my arms to part the clouds. Waves

of dizziness float away from my spirit.

I repulse eight monkeys giving me stress,

finally get them off my back. Lungs open,

I row my boat on a calm lake, breathe

out, and in, and try to drown anxiety.

 

I cast my cares to the Divine, depopulate my social anxiety.

My palms float up as I play with these nighttime waves.

To gaze at the moon, I frame my hands and look for the spirit

shining through. What do I want to stress?

Right and left, I twist and push my palms open.

Like a slalom skier, I don’t forget to breathe.

 

Lethargy. I shake off. Wave my hands. Like clouds. Breathe.

My eyes pull me past sticky anxiety.

I hinge down and scoop the sea’s waves,

fling up the water and embrace the sky, smile with a holiday spirit.

Now I’m in the waves. It is a pleasing fear. Stress

pops salty bubbles as the infinite skies open.

 

Tightness in my chest returns. I open

my wings and fly like a dove. I breathe.

It is not all bunnies and rainbows. My fighting spirit

coils out with punching fists. My ring-side manager cheers and waves!

I fly like a wild goose. Down below is anxiety

I have to live with, mud-sucking stress.

 

I am stuck with spinning my wheels. Why not stress

going in circles? whirl my arms about me, open

to my seven- year-old self bouncing a ball as I breathe

innocence before the time of General Anxiety.

I stop hopping. The tinnitus hums in waves.

My palms press in my scattered energy and spirit.

 

Send off::

My spirit makes a companion of stress.

I breathe like the wind blowing the gates open.

I no longer fight anxiety. My bright angel waves.