This Box Holds: Unraveling

Yesterday was launch day for my first book Unraveling: Coming Out and Back Together. The poems included in the book are curated by liturgical season and tell my story of coming out as lesbian and leaving ministry in the United Methodist Church.

While the publishing process only officially started just a few months ago, this journey has been unfolding for years, actually a life time. It’s an amazing thing to watch your dreams come to reality, to hold in your hands a story once only alive in your spirit.

Last week I received a box from the publisher with 100 copies of the book. After opening it, I just stared at it for the longest time. And held each of the 100 copies one at a time. There’s so much in that box. So much more than books and poems.

The water and words for this week’s well are short and really sweet. I share this poem inspired by the box.

This Box Holds

this box holds one hundred copies of a book of poems
not from some ancient poet
but from me

twenty-one poems from the card catalog of my experiences and memories

and a billion little things
made of joys and sorrows and all the in-betweens
griefs and deaths, births and milestones
and all the sands of time shifting underneath

a million miracles mixed with a million dreams

thousands of sleepless nights and living nightmares
counting sheep and prayers to a mysterious shepherd

hundreds of trepid steps and getting back up agains
and wanting to quits and throw the towels in

tens of spools of yarn to unravel
spools that resemble
pain and betrayal
rejection and denial
tests and trials
tries and failures
dead ends and sidewalk closures

hope and healing
release and breathing
first love and second chance meetings
once upon a star wishes come true and new beginnings
confidence and rainbows beaming

one heart revived and rhythmically beating
once in full arrest now fully open for receiving all the blessings
of celebrating this you don’t have to be there to believe it season 
the becoming I am gifted from this beautiful box of unraveling

Water-fully Yours,
Rebecca & 10 Camels

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10 ways to support 10 Camels and Rebecca on this Unraveling Road.

1.     Purchase your copy of Unraveling: Coming Out and Back Together.
2.     Purchase a copy for a friend, a colleague, a church member, your church’s library.
3.     Read the book and leave a review on Amazon.
4.     Request the book at your local library or bookstore.
5.     Like and follow 10 Camels on Facebook and Instagram.
6.     Share a post about the book on Facebook or Instagram.
7.     Host a Little Launch Party.*
8.     Attend the Big Launch Party on Saturday, May 11^th at 2:00 pm at Central United Methodist Church-Detroit.
9.     Book a performance of the Extra-Ordinary Poetry Show “New Laces in Old Shoes.”
10.  Come back to the Well next Wednesday to learn more about what the Unraveling box holds.

*A Little Launch Party is an informal gathering of 5-10 people, where Rebecca shares about how the book came together, plans for the future, and reads a poem or 2. Hosts create the space (in their home, church, community coffee shop or Zoom), invite the guests, and maybe set out some tasty drinks and snacks. 10 Camels does the rest. There is no fee for hosting. But if you live more than an hour from Detroit, we might ask for a little gas money.