dear harper

dear harper,

firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to "meet" me here. it's no small thing to take a little time to respond to someone who is, in a way, a picture and words on a screen. a 2d representation of a 3d reality i suppose. if that's not too glib.

you may, perhaps, be wondering why on earth this stranger - from the other side of said earth - is responding to your call to sing with a letter (or, indeed, why she is responding at all!).

the answer to the second part remains just as much a mystery to me. but to the first - i like writing letters. i find it a useful forum for recording what can be referred to as subordinate stories (in narrative approaches to therapy). And, i guess, your request for a birthday message that is sincere, but not focussed on your myriad of flaws...got me thinking: how do i write a sincere birthday song for someone i only know in a very specific space? a narrative letter seemed like an obvious choice. possibly the only way that would work for me. it's a professional tool that has served me - and the young people i work with (also people that, really, i only know in a very specific space) - well as a way of noticing a person's not-flaws. their resistance to their flaws. their complete departure from, and untangling of, the flaws that occasionally take over their lives.

harper, one of the first things i noticed when you began engaging with my writing, was your passion for words, for literature, for stories. it shows up in thorough readings, thoughtful responses backed up by literary language/study (my vocab has already expanded in the short time i've been on vocal), in generosity of time, and in the reflective self-awareness that your way of thinking, responding - your way of approaching writing (and reading) - comes from your training, your experience. and this informs all the ways these vocal-words resonate for you - kind of the literary equivalent to what we in social work might call social location.

and so, i find myself wondering (in this letter-not-song) about what sings to you - and what impact this singing has on you. So, i invite you to consider these questions:

what does it bring to your life that you want more of?

what does it help you remember about yourself that, perhaps, you tend to forget?

how does this singing change the story of you? does it shift perspective? introduce something new? something surprising? does it enhance something that already exists? does it obliterate something that no longer serves you?

does it thicken the plot of who harper was / who harper is / who harper might want to be?

does it open up space to embrace (tiny rhyme. unintentional.) the myriad possibilities that form all the versions of harper that have and do and could exist?

happiest of days to you, to you, harper (though i suspect i might need to add: "and sorry i'm late").

warmly,

ali

for harper's sing to me birthday rogue challenge. find it here: