I am lucky to have cultivated a lush garden of beautiful, meaningful friendships throughout my life. I am luckier, still, to be planted in the deep soil of my friends’ gardens where they shower me in love, and light, and their amazing company. To exist in a well tended garden cultivates a gratitude so profound it can only erupt from me in joyful colors painted with hugs, laughter, and happy tears like sacred rain upon parched earth.
- gws
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
I find god more easily in a room full of poets on a Thursday night than I ever did in a church full of the righteous on a Sunday morning
-gws
Asking for help often feels like failure
Like challenging my shame to a duel
Dueling with my shame is graceless and ugly
Inflicting a million tiny self-judging cuts
To my compromised self-esteem
I try to grab onto the radiating love
When the call for help is answered
Letting that love eclipse my shame
Transmute that shame with humble gratitude
Into worthiness
I know those who offer their support
Do so selflessly because to them I am worthy
Even when I don’t feel so
-gws
Wander down a country road
Flowers in your hair
Dance inside your living room
Without a single care
Wish upon a shooting star
Or say a sacred prayer
Live your life with pure delight
Lay your true self bare
-gws
Thank you all for being my angels
My bowling lane bumper guards
My Jiminy Crickets
My chorus of friends and family
Who say the things I have had so much trouble saying to myself
For constantly reminding me that the children and I
Demand, command, and deserve
To be held most valuable
For reminding me that no matter how terrible I feel about what I am doing
That there is a greater good that I must serve
That of the wellbeing of my family of three growing souls and one old, weary one
“I love you,” is hardly powerful enough
“I’m grateful,” is impotent in its ability to deliver the depth
Of what I feel for what you are doing for me and my children
You have filled the many holes in me with light and love and patience and grace
This journey hasn’t drowned me because you have pulled my head from beneath the water
Gently reminding me to breathe until I can remember how to float again
I know I wouldn’t be at this place
Walking forward one painful step at a time without all of you
Picking me up and cheering me on
-gws
Friends...
Hold me up when the weight of my world
Causes my knees to buckle
Sing truth to my inflamed mind
When the noise of living trauma
Drowns my ability to reason
Gentle
Patient
Empathetic
Sometimes sharp but never cruel
My lighthouse in stormy waters
My safety net when the trapeze breaks
My light in the darkest and longest nights
Voicing wisdom I need at the right time
In the right way
Through the right person
Another conduit through which
My Goddess speaks to me
All of them a blessing I can never
Craft adequate words to encompass
So important and special
Their glow is to my night sky
-gws
I'm not a morning person
But I love the Maxfield Parrish skies of dawn
Pink and purple watercolor brush strokes
Across a robin's egg blue sky
Golden light gilding every cloud in radiant luminescence
Pastel magic painted across the heavens
Suspending breath through awe
Arresting the rush and rattle of morning routines
With the beauty of nature's majesty
I will gladly pour a cup of coffee in the wee hours
If I get to enjoy a front row seat for such an art show
-gws
Forty-eight orbits of the sun
Forty-eight birthdays celebrated
Some happy
Some not
This morning I turned my face
To golden, gossamer sunlight
Filtered through cool, blue fog
I was showered in love notes
Sung to and hugged by my children
My pockets may be empty
But my heart can't be much fuller
-gws
You treat me like a beautiful mind Asking my opinions Exploring ideas You invite me to engage in discordant conversation And uncomfortable curiosity You bid me to think deeply To test the boundaries of my beliefs You ask me to pull you down rabbit holes of rumination Neither of us sure where we will be lead Yet both of us excited for the journey We discuss, debate, and discover We challenge, and question, and deadlock Always honest and vulnerable Open, curious, and safe Exchanging thoughts and perspectives With the utmost love and respect And I thank you for every luminous minute -gws
Words Wishes and Wisdom 