The Balloon

"Hope is a spacious place. It's so full of possibility." Chantale has a way with words that is a little hypnotic. And she has a way with ideas. Hope, for her, is a red balloon that expands your chest so you can breathe a little more easily. Much like her balloon, or more accurately, because of her balloon, this is a conversation that expands - into mental health, the vagaries of babies that interrupt interviews, what keeps us awake at night, climate change, what a better future means, Brene Brown's vulnerability hangovers, messiness - and into a conversation about conversation, stories and words. About the things that make us human. And here is the poem that she shares with us - it's worth lingering over: 357/365 // the balloon // #365daysofpoetry Love, mistaking my heart for a balloon, took a deep breath and blew and now it sits uncomfortably tight in my chest, swollen against ribs that creak under the strain drifting upwards until my toes barely touch the ground I am adrift in newly awoken hope (Chantale Roxanas)