damselfly

so when do we wake
the daughters of the moon,
daughters of danu
and ogre
and tiger –
do we not
tire of living
frail wings to fickle suns
swooning with our false ineptitude
to snag the mate
when we know in our animal bones
that it is our strength and resilience
that raises the cub
our wily bone-grinding love
that shapes our world,
buries our dead,
holds and heals and plants and builds.
when do we wake
our daughters of the moon,
daughters of danu
and ogre
and moth
to build the world anew.

 

 

 

 

 

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celebrant

daughters of the moon,
daughters of the hills,
daughters of our grandmother’s
grandmother’s grandmothers,
it is too long
we have dwelled
in the house of men
fearing our power
would scare them,
letting our power scare us.
daughters of the earth,
love would never ask you
to be less than you are,
and if that is what’s being asked
then it is not love.
cast it off
like a garment
like a corset
like a skin
until all that is not you returns to dust
and you the living stand alive
on the river’s edge
pulsing with the perfect light you are
and have been
since before the trees were named
and the river tasted the sea.

daughters of blood and stars,
when love comes
as love will,
approach it as the temple it is.
time has waited for this perfect now,
crow and shout and dance on the hilltops –
in the moonlight,
in the rain,
on the shore of tomorrow
that only you have seen.
be celebrant and celebrated –
let the hard worn dust
of the temple floor
remember your name.

 

Image by Steven Hurt

they waited

wait
it’s beautiful
she said
leaning her taller
by the day self
against my shoulder
hand on my arm
as the moon pulled
free of the clouds
haloing the sky
and us
where we stood
waiting

Drawing by Steve Hurt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Radiant

plum jam

 

for now the
trees hang full sweet
with summer.
tomorrow or
tomorrow she leaves
as daughters must
and with her
summer too.
today we make plum jam,
filling the house
warm sticky
with the knowing of blossoms.
storing summer sweet
for when autumn quiet
blows cool.