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
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
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
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
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
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
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
I lay beneath a starless sky Wondering where they have gone Have they become the freckles Dancing across my nose Strands of silver streaking my hair Glitter in my joyful tears Have they fallen to Earth So I can shine
