I’m not going to lie: I’m still thinking about the story Celebitchy covered last month about David Cross telling Conan about his and Amber Tamblyn’s couple’s colonic, and how that was a bad idea. I was confused when I read the story, and I remain confused as to why that seemed like a good idea for any amount of time.

If, like me, you want to forget that particular story, here’s another one about Amber: In April, she tweeted that she is Olay’s “Creative Director for an important project about self care.” She’s also published three books of poetry, so perhaps it’s no surprise that she’s penned “The Braveness of Being: Olay’s Manifesto for Self Care”, which Us Weekly exclusively shared:

See the boldness of your dare,
the dawning of you, rising to its power,
radiating into the world, your journey’s brightness.

As you move into the next languages of your story,
celebrate all that has been conjured and conquered to get here,
and all that must be cherished and nurtured
to keep going.

See your body’s protection as the gift
you were given, and give,
for the past and future armors of your skin:

Be delicate to the touch,
soothing in a world of severity,
resilient against the odds.

As you move into the next intentions of your trajectory,
be a crescendo of kindness and courage to that which you live in:
Your skin.

Sing the song of self care
not just for yourself
but for those who are still unsung.

Stand in solidarity with your sisters,
in our collective safety,
not just one woman at a time,
but for all of womankind.

As you enter into the braveness of being,
always remember to pass on
the wisdom of your worn womanhood:
your skin’s legacy,
to the next generation
of the wise.

[From US Weekly]

Contrary to the language in the article that indicates that the poem is directed toward “all those who identify as women,” it also quotes Amber as saying,“‘I wanted the piece to feel personal and intimate when speaking to the next generation of women and non-binary voices who are our future.’”

I have side-eyed some of Amber’s past comments, particularly those that she’s made in defense of her husband’s racism. I appreciated some of her comments in this article when discussing her self-care routine: “Self-care is often a privilege and in some cases, a luxury. But not all self-care has to be… It is deeply personal and different for different people.” I recently ran across an article headline that pointed out that self-care is a privilege. Not everyone has the time for it or the means and access to it, so I think that it’s important that Amber pointed that out. It helps her avoid coming across here as ignorant of her privilege when talking about this work. (This might have been the article.)

I’m someone who loves poetry; if I could spend a good chunk of my day, reading it, I would. (I’m currently rereading one of my favorite collections, Claudia Emerson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Late Wife.) I skimmed Amber’s books on Amazon (what I could, thanks to the previews), and read the poem on Us’s site. She writes in a very straight-forward style that I think probably makes her work accessible to lots of people. (I liked parts of poems in Dark Sparkler). Her newest poem is similar. It’s a bit too on-the-nose for me, but the style makes sense, as it’s being written in concert with the work that she’s doing for Olay. And, if it means that more people might start reading poetry thanks to her, that’s a good thing.

So excited to announce I’m teaming up with @OlaySkin as the Creative Director for an important project about self care. Something that celebrates and protects our individual uniqueness as women and non-binary voices in this world. #OlayPartner

For more:https://t.co/eE1YtHcxhD pic.twitter.com/NUbqRdjLuo

— Amber Tamblyn (@ambertamblyn) April 27, 2019

Photos credit: WENN