The Invitation

Poetry by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Music by Steve Law
Art by Marisa S. White, "As Real as the Here and Now"
Video by Tony Jeannette
The stories we tell ourselves matter. When my son took his life, I had an immediate story I was telling myself full of self-pity and judgment--and in this poem, I write about the moment that frame changed and the enormous difference that has made in my life.
"The Invitation" is a track on DARK PRAISE, a spoken-word album that honors the dark and how it opens us to creativity, passion, intimacy, revelation, dreaming, receptivity, self-discovery and connection. "The Invitation" is available for download on Spotify, iTunes, and more. The album is available for purchase on Band Camp.
THE INVITATION
Two nights after he died,
all night I heard the same
one-line story on repeat:
I am the woman whose son
took his life. The words
felt full of self-pity,
filled me with hopelessness, doom.
And then a voice came,
a woman’s voice, just before dawn,
and it gave me a new shade of truth:
I am the woman who learns
how to love him now that he’s gone.
It did not change the facts,
but it changed everything
about how I met the facts.
Over a hundred days later,
I am still learning what it means
to love him-how love is
an ocean, a wildfire, a crumb;
how commitment to love changes me,
changes everyone,
invites us to bring our best.
Love is wine, is trampoline,
is an infinite song with a chorus
in which I am sung.
I am the woman who learns
how to love him now that he’s gone.
May I always be learning how to love-
like a cave. Like a rough-legged hawk.
Like a sun.
--Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, published in All the Honey (Samara Press, 2023)

[@emmapascalepearson5576]

oh sweetheart - so stunning - the words, the music, the spaces in between, the love, the love, the love, and the longing

[@rosemerryt]

the love, the love, the love. I know you know, dear Emma.

[@jimmypappas4326]

Beautiful work, Rosemerry.

[@rosemerryt]

Thank you, Jimmy ❤

[@carie2484]

The love in this is everything. ❤

[@rosemerryt]

Oh friend, it's everything ...

[@KristinPedemonti]

Layers of love in the loss in the hope in a new story. Thank you for sharing your gift of words, voice made ever more poignant with music, with image, with words unfolding on the screen. Our hearts are moved with you.

[@rosemerryt]

Thank you, Kristin, for going there with me ... love to you ❤

[@joannesnyder3717]

So poignant and the power of loves infinitity.... love invites us to bring our best!! Thank for being a lovelight in the world, Rosemerry!! With love, j

[@rosemerryt]

Thank you, Joanne--thank you ❤❤❤

[@elizabethwolf2133]

Beautiful poem and amazing video. I'm saving this as an example of the power of video poetry.

[@rosemerryt]

thank you, Elizabeth ... I have been loving what Tony has been doing with these videos ... thank you for watching and for this response!

[@narsadinargisparveen7692]

Hello mam, i m from india. I really loved your videos. Your voice, your words, it's really amazing 🎉😊

[@thomasdef634]

Poignant, solemn, even heart-harrowing at moments, but for all that: hopeful. And this is how poetry saves us, by embracing the contradictions, by not denying the manyness of our realities. Rosemerry, thank you, and thank you to your collaborators.

[@rosemerryt]

Oh friend, so well said, this is how poetry saves us--power to the paradox