My Place - Happy, or Not

This is not my happy place.

This is the place where I can weep waterfalls,

where I can release my pent up rage,

where I can laugh those laughs

that are fake if I need to because it is either laugh

or shatter into a thousand broken pieces of myself.

This is not my happy place.

This is where I can be

all that I am in all my messy forms;

the parts of me that are tiptoe quiet,

the parts that sparkle and sing,

even the parts that are full of thunder and thorns.

This is not my happy place.

This is my place,

where I don't have to hide,

where I can be where I'm at.

This place accepts all of me,

happy, or not.

By Nicole Sawin

I don't write poetry often - I enjoy writing fantasy and science fiction more (and yes, martial arts are often incorporated somehow. I'm such a nerd...). But sometimes, the beauty of something can only be expressed in poetry. I wrote this last week when I was reflecting on what being on the mats is to me. That common idiom of "going to your happy place" came to mind automatically, and I had a forceful reaction to it - so I knew I had to write about it. The above was the result. Do you have a place like this?