flow writing #18: body prompt – spine

Spine fluid. A bowl of my sacrum. Chakras. Singing and bathing in sound. The viscosity in my brass bowl was more viscous than honey – thinner, yet still warm. Almost saline, as if there was a lightness – an ability to float. Not to be weighed down by fascia – by trigger points. This bowl is brass with concentric striations adding texture to its surface. There was also a grinding or knob-like object – my spine in this case. I’m seeing a mortar and pestle or a meditation bowl with a wand/spoon to make the sounds. The image of my spine in a bowl up to my shoulders – fill my bowl with epsom salts and lavender essential oils. Or better yet a wooden barrel hot tub in the snow – steam rising off my head and shoulders – the slight touch of snowflakes dancing on my bare skin. There is a calm stillness in the air – there are white-tipped trees in front of me – wooden slats of a cabin – maybe a fire on inside. Someone is cooking – I think it’s my mom. Wearing her mukluks and her well-loved burgundy robe. She is cooking a warm meal for her family – me, my sister and my father. My dad is likely reading the paper in bed with his ‘cay’ – his nickname for coffee – or he is watching sports on TV. It’s hard to tell if it is the morning or around supper time. But in this moment my mom is content. She is cooking. At a cabin they own. With her family close-by. The images come to me like polaroid vignettes painted in an Edward Hopper style. There is a veil though – or fog in the images, as these are parcelled memories from childhood. I guess the sacrum bowl and spine ladle were like a hot tub time machine for me – using my body’s movement and warm liquids to transport me to my childhood.