Justice and Prejudice

This image of Justice and Prejudice comes from David Dismore's collection of Suffragist art.  The  fascinating account of how the Women's Suffrage movement used postcards and stamps  and finally got their message focused is instructive on every level.

On Not Wearing Black

When I started my sartorial rebirth, well over half the clothes in my wardrobe were black.  I had been favoring black since at least age 14, when I padded around barefoot in my favorite black leotard and patched jeans, through college, where I swooped across campus in a long black wool cloak, to clubbing's black miniskirt, graduate school's black v-neck pullover, pregnancy's black cotton maternity dress, poetry readings' black portrait neckline, and so on for nearly forty years.  My mother told me she didn't think I should wear so much black; when I asked her why she could only say that it depressed her.  She said it for so many years that I never really heard her. A painting teacher said she didn't use black, but darkest purple or brown instead; she considered black a color that hurt spiritual energy.  I thought she was making an aesthetic mistake.

How could a poet not be happy with a windmill...

how could I not be happy with a story like this?  What I love about living right now is that the movement towards a lifestyle that is cleaner and more respectful and loving of the earth has such momentum--and on every step of this way, poetry becomes more real to me.

What could be realer than the metaphor of wind, the spirit of the air, the cleanser and communicator, powering a place of learning and wisdom?  What I love about living right now is that the metaphors provided by such events are clear, pure, open, giving right down to the bottom and beyond.  I don't feel a need for prevarication, ambiguity, or torturous paths to access their magic.  The metaphorical power of earth, air, fire, water--nature--and our place in it-- is directly accessible to me like a spring of good water.

I learned yesterday from WOM-PO that in the language of the Dagara people of Nigeria, the words for "Art" and "Sacred" are the same.  My guess is that a spirituality centered in the earth is exactly what makes this kind of unity possible.

The Goddess Conference, the Middle School Concert, and the Coming Cosmic Convergence

 I am finally back from my many travels, catching up on things, and waiting for the photos of ASWM to come in so I can post one of the Brigid mask reading, which went beautifully. I've had so many ideas for American Witch these last extraordinarily busy few weeks that I feel as if I've been actually posting!  I will look forward to sharing them here in coming weeks.  There's one on fear, one on male support, and one on menopause, moon, and ritual.  More too, that I will probably unearth when I finish unpacking all the notes and papers.  And, I want to start a "blog reprise" series of posts, a few favorite posts on poetry from my first blog, "Confessions of a Postmodern Poetess," which is no longer available online. 
For those interested in the ASWM conference,  here's the most concise update:  a small celebratory note I sent to the ASWM website,  It's true--I've rarely if ever felt the goddess poems heard more profoundly.  No surprise there.  The event was vibrant with new