THE WOMEN gather under the trees.
They bring gifts, food, and chairs.
They are gypsies and queens, oracles, saints,
Jezebels and jesters, healers, sages, and warriors.
And when the circle is complete, the magic begins.
Shyly, with dainty movements, they take turns,
shifting aside their robes to expose
missing limbs and gaping wounds.
The others gather close and peer, heads cocked,
eyes straining, and they chant,
"That is lovely, that is good,"
and the wounds stop weeping,
and they melt into scars,
silvery and light and beautiful.
Then the women lean back and laugh,
and they stretch, sensual and fierce,
like cats in the sun.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

What We're Made Of


Little girls are sugar and spice,
sweet right to the core.
Old women are still little girls
and ever so much more.

Vinegar, sand, dirt and wine
slide through our cobweb veins.
Gold and silver and titanium pins
will litter our remains.

We are made of spiderwebs,
aches and pains and frost,
milk and honey, wind and rain
and memories that are lost.

Our hair is made of starlight,
each eye, a crystal ball.
Our mouths are full of lies and truths
and we will tell them all.

The spots and scars upon our skin
are code for what we know.
The lines and wrinkles on each face
map out where we will go.

Sugar and spice is for the young
who've yet to open life's door.
Old women who've lived and loved and cried,
are made of so much more.

---Sappho---

Monday, February 11, 2013

Six Ladies Seated

Six ladies seated, facing each other
and--depending on the day--
pour out their thoughts.
Their words bring laughter or sympathy,
but always an awareness of
each one's journey.
          --Lucretia