Massive courage is required to write honestly about traumas, failed relationships, tragic childhoods. Yet week by week, our inside-women writers tackle various themes, methodically growing in self-awareness. Sometimes, the women stop coming to the writing circle.  …perhaps, because it’s too painful to face their fears and demons, or for other reasons untold. Here’s a piece I scribbled one evening before a recent Read-Around event, entitled Will They Come? 

Twenty-five chairs in an oval,

sacred book of words

placed on each seat.

Will they come this night

and bless this space?

Will they come

and have courage to put

their wisdom into the center?

..to be vulnerable and open,

twitching voices and all?

I stare down at my own hands

that tremble.

Will their words that I cherish,

the same words that wash over me

when I transcribe them,

will they be heard

by the visitors in the room?

I deeply hope so.

..but only if they come.

It takes so much courage

to step through that door

and be yourself.

..to let one’s raw

and unvarnished words

come to the light of day.

..to admit your frailties

and warts,

to acknowledge your scars

and open your wounds

to other observing eyes.

..but that’s how we heal.

That’s how we move forward

in our lives.

We walk through the door,

weak, tired, insecure,

yet longing for a new day

and a new way,

and the light of healing

to consume us.

Will they come?

Will their words bless this circle?

Oh, I hope so.

The blessing is so mutual.