Manifesting

I want abundance
Ease
I want to vanquish the sense of lack
Back to the emptiness that birthed it
I want joy as plentiful as pollen in spring
Worry to become a dirty word
I want art and literature and poetry
And dancing to the music of my heart
Easy mornings and quiet evenings
My children's laughter endlessly echoing
Against walls papered in their smiles
I want a life where dreams thrive
Where tears fall as frequently 
As summer rain in California
I want more than wanting
I demand this
I plant these desires into the world's fertile soil
Water these seeds with whispers of manifestation
I no longer seek permission to light my hearth
I am a sun
I set the world alight with my mere being
I do not seek permission for the life I want
I am here
Now
Already permitted
Already reaping the blessings of the world
Worthy of all the good since birth
A miracle amongst miracles
And today I claim my place

gws

Slay

These poems are a journey 
That began in the light of hope and love
Then slowly meandered through increasing darkness 
They dare to expose the skeletons and demons 
Barely hidden behind my front door for too long
The narration begins in the middle 
After darkness had well fallen
And documents my struggle to breathe
My desperate journey to find myself again 

And for those who live with horrors who wear human faces
If I found my way free
I know you can too
Let these poems serve as proof 
That though it is not easy
Freedom can be won
You can take your life back 
Write the story exactly as YOU wish it to be

Sometimes the dragon burns down the world 
As long as you’re standing 
No matter how wounded
You can slay that dragon
You ARE the hero of your story
YOU get to say when the story is over
YOU get to decide how the new book starts
YOU get to do whatever the hell YOU want
Take my story and forge it into your sword of courage 
SLAY

-gws

I Hope the World Is Kind

To any who my words reach
In a time and place I will never see
I hope the world is kind
And if such things as kindness
Still prove fleeting
I charge you with performing
Defiant acts of kindness
That your efforts might fall 
Like seeds upon fallow fields
And grow like wildflowers
In the hearts of those you touch

-gws

Bubble

Hope is a soap bubble dancing in the air long past when it should have burst

-gws

Spring

The days grow longer
Promised manifestation
Renewal and hope

-gws

Harvesting

I plunge my hands
Into the dark soil
To harvest the fruits
Of gratitude into the light
It is practical work
Grounding work
Spiritual work
To nourish my soul
Drawing upon the root work 
Already deeply planted
I turn my face to the sun

-gws

We Are the Bear

Birthing a new world is painful
Shifting a paradigm is tectonic

Daughters, 
We do not just choose The Bear
We are The Bear
We are the Wild Mother
We are gifted with the power of creation
We are skilled in navigating grief
We are aligned with the cycles of life

Daughters,
We are the builders of community
We are the storytellers
We are the lore keepers
We are the heart and the hearth
We are the fire keepers
We are the fire

It's time to build and burn 
In equal measure

-gws

Smoldering

I still hold the smallest flickering flame of hope
Smoldering painfully in my belly
I keep trying to stomp it out
Smother it
But it persists 
Despite the obvious futility of its existence
It will not listen to reason
Will not extinguish beneath showers of bitter tears
I must endure it
Ignore it
Until it gutters and dies on its own

-gws

Ordinary October Day

On this ordinary October day
I did my part to change the world 
In a most extraordinary way
I voted
For who I hope will be
Our first woman president 
With proud ancestors at my back
My children’s future cast before me
I released my grain of sand into the glass
To do my small part to move us forward 
Towards a future the mothers preceding me
Could only hope to dream of
For their progeny

-gws

When Hope Has Left Us

Oh, how the tears fall
In the darkest of night
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

The grief and the shame
Consume all they might
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

Hold on to my hand
Grasp on to it tight
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

It is anguish that grips us
With its devastating blight
When hope has left us
With the dying of the light

Remember, when dawn comes
How we survived this rite
When hope had left us
With the dying of the light

-gws