Misty autumn mornings
Ethereal and wondrous
An intimate veil cast upon the world
As the sky caresses the earth
A lover kissing the other awake
Cool and gentle
Setting the air aglow
Transformed
Into an otherworldly dream
-gws
Autumn Mornings
A Warning for the Non-Poet
If you do not speak fluent poetry -
you cannot worship at my alter
You do not speak the language
my bible is scribed in
If you do not speak fluent poetry -
how will you know the names of my stars?
how will you worship the moonlight with me?
how will you engage in late night philosophical speculations?
If you do not speak fluent poetry -
you will no be able to unlock the hidden parts of my soul
I will present you observations gilded with ethereal luminescence
yet you can only see the putrid green of florescent bulbs
If you do not speak fluent poetry -
how will you ever make me taste your dreams?
how will you sound the depths of sorrow?
how will you effulge joy?
If you do not speak fluent poetry -
I am not your way station
You will drown in my abyssal currents
and never understand why
And I will not be responsible for that.
-gws
Autumn Arrives in the INW
Days are growing shorter
Light glows with golden warmth
Trees have begun to prepare
Erupting ruby, garnet, citrine and amethyst
No longer content to wear their mundane shades of green
Shadows dance upon my kitchen window
The sun arcing shallower in the sky
Tree limbs perform a pas de deux with the breeze
For the enjoyment of an audience of one
Summer's heat attempts to overstay its welcome
Despite knowing it's invitation is expired
Roadside signs appear
Announcing the arrival of apple season
Orbs of every color and sweetness wait
Dreaming of pie, tart, sauce, and cider
Clouds nestle sleepily in the mountain canyons each morning
Melting away like spun sugar before noon
Naked, Mt. Spokane stands watch over her river
Awaiting the return of her crown of winter snows
-gws
They Met at Midday
They met at midday
Mothers
Daughters
Sisters
Friends
Then the keening started
One voice
Then five
Then all of them
Screaming with balled fists
Until the rage and grief
Became breath itself
Heads thrown back
Hands holding hands
Tears streaming and teeth bared
No words
They had exhausted words
Words were ignored
The harm was always buried
Deep beneath silence
Indifference
Choked out by misogyny
Patriarchy
State sanctioned predators
Who never faced accountability
For the harm they caused
But made sure women were punished
For talking about the harm
Or defending against the harm
One in five
Likely more
Every woman knows someone
If not in their own reflection
School
Book club
Work
All women know the entitlement of men
Now they were done
Done grieving
In showers
In cars
In closets
Alone
So they came
In every town and every city
In every country
To be seen
To be heard
To create a sound so deafening
The Goddess woke
Their rage and grief a clarion
Heralding it was time for someone else
To finally be afraid
-gws
Happy Equinox
The calendar changes
With it the season
Warm sun now
Joined by coolest breeze
Night comes earlier
Mornings arrive later
Trees put on a pageant
Autumn has arrived
-gws
At Peace
This fall I will be
chasing watercolor sunsets,
reading fantasy,
writing poetry,
baking apples,
and painting dreams.
I will be at peace.
-gws
Autumn Inspiration
Autumn:
The season where a shower of colorful words fall from my mind into heaps of poetry upon a page
-gws
My Voice
One night
Under the witness of starlight
I snuck into the garden
Knelt in the midnight-dark soil
And planted my tiny voice in the moonlit earth
It would not grow inside my throat
You see
There was no room for it there
So I had to pluck the small, fragile thing out
I knew it had things to say
Experiences to share
Stories to weave with the help of breath and feeling
But it was failing to thrive inside my throat
A smothered and guttering spark
I knew it would grow roots in the rich earth
After all
It was closest to the ancestors' bones
I knew that when the sun rose it would grow
And when the rain fell it would drink deep
I fertilized it with poetry
Tended it with song
And sure enough it grew bit by bit
It became a hardy thing
A beautiful thing full of strength and confidence
One morning
In the light of dawn
I dug it up and swallowed it down
One giant gulp
It flipped and turned as it settled
Leaving my throat raw and aching
When it finally stilled
I spoke
My voice emerged rich and warm
It did not waiver or whisper
I began to tell my stories and sing my songs
And when I was shushed
My voice resounded like a thunderclap
It would never be small again
-gws
Conversations with You
I’m still in love with the dream of you
The you full of potential and promises
Who made me feel…
But loving a dream costs too much
So much unspoken subtext in each conversation
Truths too costly to acknowledge
Feelings beneath the surface
Drowning in sorrow
The boundary between us
A pane of glass
Impassable and impenetrable
For all but what lies
Unsaid in our eyes
I see it on your face too
Things that you want to say
Feelings unresolved
Both of us arcing
Not allowed to connect
Knowing you would welcome being consumed
I would not survive what sparks
Dreams offer no foundation
And I need stability now
I pray to wake from this wanting
Of a you that never was
Or will ever be
-gws
Teacup
I look up from my book
The air ringing with sounds
Ceramics scraping wood
Steam hissing
Laughs entangling with sighs
A woman sits by the window
Hands wrapped around a cup
Tea tag wound around fingers
But I was drawn to the lipstick on her teacup
-gws
