Sunday, December 31, 2006

Goodbye 06

January
lingered on in the death
of a bad thing
February
martyred self
to find the days
of March
open with brotherly
love
April came and went
the lion and the lamb
content
as May brought
courage in a heiniken
marking 1/3 of my life lived
June was unusual
Schools ending 'round the bend
and July saw its passing
love found and lap dancing
August and September
nights of squander
and much laughter
while October
caused my blind eyes to see
November was really
just about me
as I let newness in
tastes of lovely "sin"
giving life to the seeds
of Decembers
blooming
with uncanny warmth
and discovery of self
worth, devotion
ending a year of a
rollercoaster of emotion
to see the new year
ushered in
this 06 to end
and chances for
a changed me
a wiser, more fullfilled we
to see
another year
of adventure.

Goodbye 06
may your lessons learned
and memories burn
long and true in my nights
may your mornings
and mournings
ups and down rumblings
fumblings
tossing turns and tumblings
always
stay forever a reminder
that life
is

actually

very

beautiful

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Tears

nimble slivers
of silver
tracing the canyons of my soul
seeping down the mountains of dreams
dancing in songs
moments of extraordinary
kindnesses
on the edge
shaking down my voice
hanging onto memory
unexpectedly waiting
to fall
into your hands

Tears



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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Dissident Daughter - my own personal awakening

Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes

I have been staring at this phrase spelled out on a bumper sticker Erad pointed out to me and subsequently I bought for months now. It rests on the underside of my sun visor in my car, patiently waiting for me to put it on the bumper... but I can't seem to bring myself to do it. Perhaps, for the moment it is suppose to be exactly where it is, a constant reminder at least twice a day, to let the voice of my soul speak out.

Dance of the Dissident Daughter - Sue Monk Kidd

Which brings me to the book I am now reading. This lovely book is about one woman's struggle to speak her mind and let her voice out. It is about her journey from the Christian tradition to the Sacred Feminine (as the cover says). It is about the the sleep of women, thier awakening, thier initiation and eventual realization of the Divine Feminine as a real and vital part of thier lives.

"I was listening to National Public Radio the other day when someone asked the question: 'Once you wake up, can you wake up any more?'. Yes, I thought. In a way my whole life as been about waking up adn then waking up some more. This book is about waking up some more." - from the indroduction of her book.

I think I am waking up. I am well into the book now and I feel a strong connection to the journey Kidd is writing about. For many years now my voice has been small. It has been a whisper. It has been a mumble as if I was sleeping. Things bother me or rubbed me the wrong way - and I have quietly either taken it, let it slide or mumbled my discontent. But let me say this again. I think I am waking up.

Sleep from my eyes

Between the bumper sticker and this book, I am becoming aware of just how very wounded the feminine side of my world has become. Part of it has been wounded because of the society we live in, part of it because I was unable to and for much of my life been afraid to question the status quo. I was raised Christian. I have lived much of my life in the Christian tradition. And for many years now I have struggled with its dogma.

I have always believed God could not just be male. I have always believed there had to be something in the spiritual world for me... a girl. A girl, who for all the things I am good at and can offer the world, have been considered the bringer of sin... the weaker sex.... and importantly - not a boy. But my voice is getting louder and my soul is realizing there is joy in being exactly what I was born. A woman. A mother to my creations and a daughter to the divine.

You don't need the shoe Cinderella

There is one particular story in the book that has touched me deeply. Please forgive me but I am going to retype it here in order to better share with you why it touches me. The story she retells is of a film called Shirley Valentine.

"The recurring question in the film is: What happened to Shirley Valentine? Shirley Valentine was her maiden name, the name she had when she lived from her own center, when she was daring and stuffed full of passion for life. Her quest is to recover her essential self, her Shirley Valentine self. With her children grown and her marriage settled into deep, deadening ruts, her existance is like modeling clay, stretching and molding itself to her husband's life...Shirley gets a chance to go to Greece with a friend, she seizes the trip as part of her quest, though her husband forbids her to leave. One night sitteing beside the Greek shore, Shirley thinks to herself, 'I've allowed myself to lead this little life when inside me there is so much more... That's where Shirley Valentine disappeared to. She got lost in all this unused life.' ... When the vacation is over, Shirley stays...She blossoms, ignoring all her husband's angry orders to come home...[Kidd's] favorite scene is when her husband arrives in Greece in order to try to reconcile their lives. She waits for him at a table by the sea, watching him trudge up the hill. He passes her, then turns back. 'I didn't recognize you,' he said. 'I know,' she tells him. 'I use to be the mother. I use to be the wife. But now I'm Shirley Valentine" (Kidd pg 53).

Great Day for Up

So this is kind of where I am at I think. I have been many things. But finally I am looking in the mirror and seeing me. I am in the midst of what Kidd calls an awakening. It has been going on for some time now, but I have not had a name for it. Envisioning myself dancing amongst a circle of trees, or around a fire blazing, lifting my hands up towards Heaven, I am beginning to become aware of the Divine Feminine. And importantly it is not about defining myself by the will of others, but by the will of myself. By the strength of my voice.

Still shaky

Though it is still a small voice. Though it shakes when I speaks and the sentences don't always come out just right.

I am waking up and I am speaking my mind.

I am a woman. I am Divine. I am a interconnected with the world and others. I am woman. I am Divine.

I am Seren Blueskye... and I like her.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Most Beautiful Women

I saw an ad on the internet
Worlds Most Beautiful Women
and I paused
because you and I were not pictured there
Not shocked I suppose
but saddened in a way
that is hard to explain
or comprehend
or even perhaps articulate,
though I will try.
Skin and bones
dried up and alone
drug induced fancy
nicknamed romance
on the cover of a magazine
these are the most beautiful?
I disagree
they didn't ask me
but I would have told you
the most beautiful women in the world
are the ones with curves
and curls
mosaic lives
and gifted eyes
in multiple shapes and size
red ones and blue ones
orange and pink
brown, orange, and chartruse
if that is the way you spell it...
but they don't sell that.
I saw an ad on the internet
Worlds Most Beautiful Women
and I paused
because you and I were not pictured there