credit – CD cover

During our ‘outside’ writing group this past week, I found myself penning a note to all those women who have written with writing inside VT over the past five years. Perhaps that’s because it’s an anniversary of sorts, as the outside program builds upon the inside one. Perhaps because the evening’s opening poem brought the image of women with wings to mind. Perhaps because in this season, as we begin to turn once again to budding renewal, I think of each woman whose words penned in our circles brought new possibilities to light.

I want to dedicate this post to the more than 200 women who have sat in the writing circle with us since January 2010 – whether once or weekly, whether inside or out today. Your words, your presence, your courage have made a difference to one another, and to each of us. May you continue to speak your truths and seek their expression as you return to/create your ways into the future.

TO THE WOMEN OUT THERE
who wrote with me inside

Feel your wings
rising on the wind
spread strong to support
your inmost intentions

Feel your wings
flutter and flap, testing
the air you enter, the earth
to which you return

Feel your wings
fueled by time
and opportunity
outstretched in offering

Feel your wings
whisper the moon’s waxings
and wanings in hushed shadow
and full-circle brilliance

Feel your wings
fold neatly in prayer
and supplication to the power
of your beliefs

Feel your wings
spill words like petals
shaken from the bloom
soft and redolent

Feel your wings
their echoed flight
resonant still
in the hollows of our hearts

Feel your wings
parse their rhythm
to send you
well on your way

Feel your wings
the staccato and flow
of upbeat and down
following your harmonies home

swb
2-3-15