In sacred prayer
I place myself in Her protection
Amongst a ring of salt and sage
To cleanse and clarify
Purify and protect
Grounding me to earth
Connecting me to sky
-gws
Salt and Sage
Possibilities
I fall in love multiple times a day
I am wooed by the beauty of the waking sky
The feel of hot water on my skin
The rich deep smell of brewing coffee
Enchanted with my children's laughter
A stranger's smile as we pass on the street
A friend's text message saying hello
Captivated by the crescent moon in a starry sky
A blazing sunset over a summer ocean
The fog spilling into the valley over the coastal mountains
There's so much to love if one chooses to look
So much to be delighted by
All it takes is a willingness to see the possibilities in the world
-gws
Rivers
I have cried rivers
To cleanse my heart
Of the goods and bads of you
In those waters
I finally see my own reflection
Haloed in sunlight
Instead of your shadow
-gws
Better
I have been asked
If I thought I didn't deserve better
If I thought I couldn't have better
If I thought he was the best I could do
NO
I knew I deserved better
I knew I was worth better
I knew I could have better
I was in love
I believed my relationship
Could become better
Would become better
I just had to wait and believe
I clung to breadcrumbs
While my soul starved
I believed in a dream
Long past its expiration date
I held onto hope
Even when the nightmares
Haunted the wakeful day
I had to do everything I could
Until it became undeniably clear
There was nothing else I could do
When it was clear it was him and not me
I had shown up
Put the work in
Tried and cried and tired again
And he wouldn't meet me
He couldn't accept responsibility for his part
He wouldn't do the work
He wanted me to keep changing
Transforming
Making myself less so he could be more
Smaller
More compliant
Less of a person
More of a puppet
A Stepford Wife
That could never please him anyway
I knew that my luminescence was what drew him to me
My shine was acceptable then
My shine is acceptable now
Just not to him
I knew love shouldn't feel like this
Be like this
Behave like this
Hurt like this
Love does not bully
Love does not belittle
Love does not plot against the one it adores
Love does not manipulate or blame
Love does not destroy others to make itself feel powerful
My hope became my prison
An escape room I allowed to be created around me
I found myself trapped in its ever shifting walls
It would take time
It would take opportunity
It would take all the courage I had to leave
To choose me
And to not look back
I do deserve better
And reclaiming myself
Is where I start to create better
-gws
Late Summer Afternoon
Warm lazy afternoons in late summer
Hazy and tea-colored at the golden hour
Dragonflies dancing through the tall grass
While crickets hum contentedly
Air scented with summer earth
And hints of coming autumn rain
The world readying for sleep
Eagerly awaiting the slowing of things
-gws
Storyteller Heart
With awkward ineloquent rhymes
I started breathing life into words I tattooed
Onto untold reams of pressed dead trees
When I was still learning how to tell my story
I held too much inside
I needed a pressure valve
An escape hatch for my muted voice
That had so much to say
But hid from the light of day
To hold space for my soul which felt so keenly
I juggled words in my mind
Like a magician rolls coins across his knuckles
A dance of language
Choreographed to the rhythm of heartbeats
Raw and unrefined
But as necessary as air
I worried about those early musings
Sure they were self-indulgent nonsense
Important to no one but me
But that was the point
The words were important to no one but me
The way they should be
If others understood them
If others were moved by them
Then I was doing something extra that was right
I gave my voice the space to tell my story
Released my experience as art
Defined by my own rules
A baby poet learning how to
Let her storyteller heart fly
-gws
Nothing to Prove
When the truth comes out
It's quiet
No pomp and circumstance
The truth has nothing to prove
-gws
To Thine Own Self Be True
This above all
To thine own self be true
But damn
Is that a hard thing to do
I want to hold
To my own principles
To set firm my jaw
And without a pause
Hold firm the ground
I'm planted upon
But when I say no
You refuse to move on
Turning my insides
Upside and down
Knitting my eyebrows
And causing a frown
Why is honoring me
Such an ask
It's not like I'm begging
Some outrageous task
I'm asking for only
Mutual respect
Yet you recoil
As if you were decked
Leaving me feeling
Like I've caused you harm
While my heart is rattling
My chest in alarm
Now I'm a monster
For making my needs
A priority which
Leaves you aggrieved
One day soon
I will disavow
Ownership of
What's forced on me now
I will figure out how
To my own self be true
And with peace in my heart
I will leave you
-gws
Tell Your Story
Tell your story
Detail your plot twists
Describe how you penned your own ending
How you dreamt your next prolific chapter
You are proof that dragons can be slain
Villains can be outwitted
That the condemned can become the hero
Be the light that illuminates someone else’s
Pages through your inspiration
Show that soul their narrative can be altered
Show that soul their misery can become triumph
Because you have told them it can be done
Because you have shown them it was done
-gws
Becoming Friends
Tell me the story of becoming friends
My mind's well versed in remembering ends
But beginnings are better stories to tell
Yet my memory fails to recall half so well
How the meeting between a you and a me
Led to becoming a fun-seeking "we"
Maybe there's details you only recall
Enchant me by telling every moment of all
The things that connected my soul to yours
The reasons you walked through my open door
I'll sit at your feet with my chin in my hands
And listen intently as you meet my demands
To share the hilarious things that ensued
Which inextricably linked a me to a you
-gws
Words Wishes and Wisdom 