our parts of jan.

our parts of jan. homage to all that love and have been loved by jannele.

preface.

This zine is a series of gifts and messages dedicated to our dear friend, Jan. To Jan, may your celebration be filled with love & grace. We love you!

You're ALIVE ... heartbeat <3 - Britney Spears

Gather the bees…

Gather the bees, call on the river nymphs, so that we may celebrate a joyous day.

The mangroves are strong, their roots are firm.

For now we are safe.

Inside, the ceilings are limitless.

See the chandelier hanging midair, a gilded, giggling, gold thing, breathing in our boisterous laughter.

Ease abound.

Gather your friends, all are invited to bear witness.

For this day is hearty, like an arm wrapped around one's shoulder.

It is delight shared in taut bodies, together, finally.

The hearth overflows, there is always more.

The spider enters, donning its new shoes.

We all nod in acknowledgment.

We all raise a glass to the fire.

Thank you. Thank you.

in your company, i have come to know the fullness of love. in your garden of words i have longed and searched for what you’ve sowed, what grows fiercely and without fear. no matter the harshness of light, no matter the blight. anything can survive when tended with tenderness. like every small and sacred space you make for me, for us. a kitchen, a palm, a poem, a birdsong. everything a message and a warmth i curl into. a sun-soaked window that even in my solitude i can always return to and rest in. my hands have yet to learn when to still or fold into fists (like yours do), still looking for both the softening and firming (that yours have). thank you for holding them nonetheless. i hope that anything—that this, too— can survive once shared and loved. no matter this strange alchemy of time, this painful bending of the universe across distance.

the world is a meal we share. here i am holding out my half to you,

let us sit toget her and delight ours elves to fullnes s.

you've built a home of your heart and allowed us to find rest and solace in its warmth. you pour me out tea, sit with my grief, and say it is ours.

across islands and oceans.

Everlasting, enduring

To create is a powerful thing; thank you for sharing your creations with us

on all the lovely ways in which you exist and love loudly and quietly

how incredibly lovely it is to exist with you.

You have no idea how lucky I am to call you a friend. I'm living proof that you are love.

"She who holds water feels the give of the Earth--both as it and with it."

r u o y e n i g a m i I w t o n h e s i m e s l i e h c T i t e o p a s u o a y s d k n n a a h h T . d n e . i t r f u o a g d n n i a h c a e r s y a w l a r o f

always here, always with you.