for Elizabeth Plamondon Cutler
There is no evidence, says Quora,
that permissioning is a real word.
But last weekend, when a real woman
used permissioning as a real word
to talk about a real practice
of supporting other women
to be their most magnificent selves,
I felt my whole body tingle
with the realness of it.
Permissioning.
I had not known how deeply
I wanted this word,
especially the way she said it
as if it were commonplace,
a word as pedestrian
as gift or yes or powerful or true,
the kind of word you could toss out
on a ski trail as if it were as obvious
as snow in winter,
as clear as a Colorado sky,
that we are here to permission each other
to be influential, to be honest,
to be real as trees, real as change,
real as our dreams, our hands,
our fears, real as the words we dare
to speak with our very real voices.
Posts Tagged ‘women’
Sewing Circle
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged circle, learning, needle, sewing, thread, women on June 8, 2022| 7 Comments »
It feels right to learn the stem stitch,
to embroider bright floss through the cloth,
to move the needle and watch words emerge
in long and ropy loops.
It feels right to sit at the oblong table
with my daughter and women I’ve only just met,
where the talk is light and we laugh
as bright thread slips through our fingers.
There are so many ways the world
is falling apart. So when the teacher explains,
We step and we float, as a method for moving
from one letter to another, I take notice:
How easy it can be to change, to start something new.
How easy to connect what seems separate.
I look across the table where my daughter
concentrates on her message in lavender and blue.
What a gift to learn these lessons together.
Not too loose. Not too tight. Stay consistent, smooth.
It feels right that I stitch my skirt into the project.
Some things can be undone.
O sweet, the lack of drama, the stakes so low.
How sweet, to share this moment, heads bowed.
Because fear, because sorrow, because hopelessness,
bless these circles where we come together
and make beauty. We step and we float,
step and float, linking one moment to the next,
we step and float, meeting the world
and each other one stitch at a time.
The Day after International Women’s Day I Think of My Mother
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged daughter, equality, international women's day, mother, women on March 9, 2020| Leave a Comment »
My mother did not forge tech innovation,
didn’t win Olympic medals, didn’t write
a textbook on equal rights.
But she did run for office. And won.
She coached the soccer team so girls could play.
At church, she led the people from the pew.
And she started a company so my father
could leave his job. I don’t think
she thought of herself as an activist.
She’ll be surprised, perhaps, I see her this way—
as a leader, a role model, an example
of a gender equal world. Because of her,
I never felt less than. Because of her,
I could see myself as doctor, poet,
model, president. Because of her,
I know how to scratch my children’s heads
each night before sleep. How
to make up a song when life is too much.
How to cry for beauty and love.
How to notice and praise
what is right with the world.
Spending the Day at the Volleyball Tournament
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged girls, love, sports, support, volleyball, women on February 10, 2020| 2 Comments »
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.
—Annie Dillard
I want to spend my life
cheering for young girls as they learn
what they are capable of, learn
to trust themselves and each other,
learn to become a team. I want
to spend my life looking for new ways
to say, “I am thrilled with who
you are becoming.” I want to support
other women’s daughters, all of them,
some of them with my own hands.
It’s so easy, really. A glass of water,
a hug, a word, a shoulder, a nod.
And if days are our currency, let me
spend them giving as much love
as possible, though it sounds
like a cheer, though it feels like a pat
on the back, though it looks like
a bagel, a headband, a double thumbs up.
Women’s March, January 21, 2017
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged poem, poetry, speaking out, unity, women on January 21, 2017| 3 Comments »
It hurts to be silent—
the unsaid words
sharp as frazil ice—
needle shaped and
able to slice what
inside is tender.
Still, we found ways
to be silent.
I give thanks
for the chill
that woke up
the millions of women
around the world,
got us moving
in one direction.
I give thanks
for the diversity
of messages
that inspire us
to be not one voice
but millions
together.
As we march,
I think of the fish,
how they move as one,
sometimes daily,
sometimes annually.
They know
when to stay,
when to move,
when to give it
everything they’ve got.
Upcoming Poetry Programs for Women
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Brucie Holler, poetry retreat, poetry workshop, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Wilkinson Public Library, women on March 15, 2016| Leave a Comment »
Hi Poetry Friends,
What might happen to your creative life if you treated yourself to an inspirational, intimate and well, fun four days?
I will be co-leading a painting and poetry retreat, Going Out, Going In, in Telluride with the fabulous artist Brucie Holler, and if you register before March 31, you can get a 15% discount … I am putting a link here for more information and to register. Going Out Going In Retreat
*
Also just for women is a 4-hour session of Lost in Motherland: Writing to Discover Who We Are(n’t) on March 23 at Wilkinson Public Library, and it is FREE!
This will be a new version of this popular workshop, always based on the same theme: Motherhood changes things. Amidst the blessings and the challenges, we transform. As one mother put it, “With my first child, I lost my interests. With my second child, I lost my identity.” How do we lean into motherhood’s paradoxical blend of miracle and loss? Writing can help. As James Pennebroke writes in Opening Up, writing “clears the mind” and helps us “understand and reorient our complicated lives” and “helps keep our psychological compass oriented.” What happens when we ask, “Who am I?” As Ramana Maharshi says, “The purpose of that question is not to find an answer but to dissolve the questioner.” What’s that supposed to mean? Come play. For more information, contact Paula Ciberay at 970-728-4519
Dedication
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged ars poetica, audience, poem, voice, women on August 12, 2012| 4 Comments »
I wish you were writing this poem
about those two days you hid in the woods,
partially scalped, your legs broken, your two kids
with you, hiding from the man who promised
to kill you when he came home.
I wish you were writing this poem
about the places you go in your mind
when the men mount you and start
their furious pumping.
I wish you were writing this poem
about the day you knew for sure
that you were not beautiful.
I wish you were writing this poem
about the look on your child’s face
the moment you slapped her
for calling you Bitch. And another
poem about the moment after.
I wish you were writing this poem
to the woman who slept with your husband,
asking her everything you know
you will never understand.
I wish you were writing this poem
about the way the light hit the empty room
just after you packed all your things to leave,
and how in that light for a moment
you thought you could stay,
loving in that moment the room, the potential,
and still you knew you would go.
It would not comfort you, this poem
that you are not writing, would not make
one thing better. Would not fix, not heal,
not redeem nor transform.
But something would happen,
something unnamable and mysterious—
and from that broken, torn,
shredded place, you might create,
surprising yourself, a little more space.