Let’s Go Get Her

once upon a time
before the shame
and the sin
you were a cartwheel
hair flying
in full tumble
throwing yourself
with mad delight
into the arms of
wind and spirit

once upon a time
before the shame
and the sin
you were a starkeeper
your wishes alone
kept the stars aloft
in a velvet sky
of invitation and belonging

you knew the sylvan
truth of fireflies
and trailed their
golden lantern path
over silvered meadow
into to the lullaby
of fairyland

the moon was a
grandmother from a tale
you still remembered
watching over your every move
look! you said. Look!
everywhere we go
the moon follows us
all the way home

once upon a time
before the shame
and the sin
acorns were goblin hats
trees were secret keepers
clouds were sky puppets
butterflies and honey bees
were emissaries of otherwhere
guarding the old stories
adults had already forgotten
to remember

once upon a time
before the shame
and the sin
you moved through
the world like it was
your back yard
elbows made of frolic
knees made of wonder
fingers and toes a whirl
of color and possibility

your mind was full of
neverland
and your heart was full
of Oz
your body was still
a playground
and a confidant
and a friend

remember her?
she got lost somewhere
between the shame
and the sin
but she’s still there
cartwheel smile
moonbeam soul
fairy tale girl
in love with
her own life
in love with you
bawdy and soul

she’s still in there
daring, brazen
wild with
possibility
let’s
go
get
her.

~Ang Sullins
www.angisullins.com

I’ll Tell You A Secret

Anyone who says, “Here’s my address,
write me a poem,” deserves something in reply.
So I’ll tell a secret instead:
poems hide.
In the bottoms of our shoes,
they are sleeping.
They are the shadows
drifting across our ceilings
the moment before we wake up.
What we have to do
is live in a way that lets us find them.

~Naomi Shihab Nye

Image: Pink Sherbet Photography 

Full Moon in Airy Libra

In honor of the first full moon of spring…

Beehive

Within this black hive to-night
There swarm a million bees;
Bees passing in and out the moon,
Bees escaping out the moon,
Bees returning through the moon,
Silver bees intently buzzing,
Silver honey dripping from the swarm of bees
Earth is a waxen cell of the world comb,
And I, a drone,
Lying on my back,
Lipping honey,
Getting drunk with silver honey,
Wish that I might fly out past the moon
And curl forever in some far-off farmyard flower.

~Jean Toomer
1894-1967

🌙

#AprilMoon
#LibraMoon
#spring
#honey
#bee
#joy

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Art by Neil Thompson
available on Etsy

The World Stops

god is a mother
and with that
sentence
the world stops
the world always stops
when woman and
divine
commingle
as if the
feminine
dilutes the
miraculous
when in reality
it embodies it
when jesus turns water
to wine
they clap
but when women turn breasts
to milk
they cringe
a broken man’s body
is celebrated each sunday
while a broken woman’s body
is just hidden away
and it’s no wonder
that mother is a word
used by men
to demonize those
who don’t claim the name
and weaponized to shame
those who step out of line
because
their ideal
woman
plays the role of
nurturer and silencer
in pews
built and led by them
but
when god
becomes mother
she is neither quiet
or compliant
she leads confidently
she questions authority
she commands respect
which might be the problem
for mother god
did not gather us up
carelessly
but took her time with it
she fed us milk
birthed our souls
and broke her body
and the permanence
can be uncomfortable
and to disentangle god
from motherhood
Is impossible
but
to disentangle god
from womanhood
is sinful
because seeing god as mother
is one step closer
to seeing god in me
and it’s in that
i am truly
born again

~Kaitlin Hardy Shetler

🌙

Image: A new mother nurses her baby
unknown photographer

I Am

I am the moon goddess casting a silver net over this night

I am the brooding black raven asleep in the dark wood

I am the dreamer and the fox who guards the dreamer

I am the windswept plain where lost dreams can be found

I am the bone songs of my ancestors playing on the wind

I am the heart of the ancient sycamore crumbling into dust

I am green leaves capturing rays of sunlight as they fall

I am the lone crane, standing watch near the shore

I am the jumping salmon crane silently waits for

I am the dance of flickering flame consuming it all

I am Phoenix reborn from the ash of what came before.

~NancyL

Painting: Moon Woman and the Serpent:
Gifts of the Dark by NancyL

Sunlight

Down near the bottom
of the crossed-out list
of things you have to do today,
between “green thread”
and “broccoli,” you find
that you have penciled “sunlight.”

Resting on the page, the word
is beautiful. It touches you
as if you had a friend
and sunlight were a present
he had sent from someplace distant
as this morning—to cheer you up,
and to remind you that,

among your duties, pleasure
is a thing
that also needs accomplishing.

Do you remember?
that time and light are kinds
of love, and love
is no less practical
than a coffee grinder
or a safe spare tire?

Tomorrow you may be utterly
without a clue,
but today you get a telegram
from the heart in exile,
proclaiming that the kingdom
still exists,
the king and queen alive,
still speaking to their children,

—to any one among them
who can find the time
to sit out in the sun and listen.

~Tony Hoagland

🌱

Image: Mount Shasta Sunset
by NancyL

She

She is the Life/Death/Life force, she is the incubator. She is intuition, she is far-seer, she is deep listener, she is loyal heart. She encourages humans to remain multilingual; fluent in the languages of dreams, passion, and poetry. She whispers from night dreams, she leaves behind on the terrain of a woman’s soul a coarse hair and muddy footprints. These fill women with longing to find her, free her, and love her.”

~Clarissa Pinkola Estes

🌙

Image: Triple Goddess
by Amy Haderer