The Yagé Letters 2020 – Ayahuasca Poetry

Stuff companies usually do NOT do: Go on an Ayahuasca company retreat.

I plan on writing an article about this with my coworker Candy for the happiness.com magazine. Here I wanted to share a “poem” I have written shortly after the experience.

Poems seem to write themselves. I usually do not sit down and plan on writing a poem. I want to write down an experience to see clearly, to process it and sometimes it takes the form of a poem. Is it real poetry? I don’t know.

Checking if I wrote the word Ayahuasca correctly, I saw the synonyms: Ayahuasca, Yagé, Yajé, Natem, Cipó, Daime, Hoasca. Yagé!!! I read so much from William S. Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg, the beat generation and here I am realizing that I participated in a Yagé ceremony I had read so much about only after I had done it. This is such a massive lightbulb moment…

Anyway. Here’s the poem:

Patternrecognition

I expected a big gesture
wished for a dramatic sign
feared the great unravel

yet

the change was subtle

I felt nothing
saw nothing
feared nothing
and

recognized the beauty in a gesture
the kindness in a look
the warmth in a word

the world didn’t change

and there was hope

Here’s some advertising for the project too: