This past summer, my family and I lovingly carried my brother’s ashes to a favorite spot of his, in the woods at our grandparents’ Catskill farm. My mind was on the simple, beautiful ritual, each of us stating memories and… Read More ›
Poetry
The Crone of Winter, by Molly Remer
Just for right now, let the swirling soften.Exhale into the day,wherever you are,whatever is happening.Allow a cloak of comfortto settle across your shouldersand enfold youwith peace and restoration.Draw up strength from the earthbeneath your feet.Settle one hand on your bellyand… Read More ›
A Ritual for Thanksgiving, by Molly Remer
Find some pine treesand a wide rock in the sun.Settle down and feel gratitudecurl around your shoulders.Listen to the windsense that there is sorrow tooin this place,deep and old,threaded through thelines of sunslices of shadows.It tells of what has been… Read More ›
Biblical Poetry – Trees by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
In many cultures of the world, including our own, trees are considered the ancestors of humanity – own our ancestors. Trees are connected with great goddesses throughout antiquity. We see this in the bible where, as I’ve noted before, the… Read More ›
When Earth Meets the Son by Sara Wright
As I curl up in my hatchback open to sky I am a snail loving her shellsun warms me from behindAutumn lightshimmers, leavesa testamentto breeze some withered by a freeze.Burnt umberGoldSalmonthe understoryin full gloryBare hardwoods peer down sentries stationedOverheadAcorn browned… Read More ›
Upon Rising: Poems Call Out by Margot Van Sluytman
Moderator’s Note: Margot reads each of her poems aloud. They can be heard through the links in the titles. “And what then is poetry?” We ask this time and time and time again. And poetry HERself answers. SHE needs no… Read More ›
For Mahsa by Lori Stewart
On Friday, September 16, 2022 Mahsa Amini died in a Tehran hospital having been arrested by Iranian morality police on September 13 for wearing “inappropriate attire”. She was 22. Mahsa’s family claims she had bruises to her head and limbs… Read More ›
The Appalachian Cailleach Speaks by Annelinde Metzner
The Cailleach is a Celtic Ancestor-Goddess, a Divine Hag, a Crone who controls the winter winds in the far reaches of remote places. Living in the still-wild mountains of Western North Carolina, I’ve found it is easy to conjure up the… Read More ›
On Her Birthday by Sara Wright
One of the aspects of feminism that really disturbs me is the SILENCE around aging. Reflections on our personal lives are a critical piece that can help women to deal with this inevitable process. Oh, we write about the “wisdom”… Read More ›
Beauty in the Heart of the Beholder by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
In the past two years, I began a project which I call biblical poetry. I had been doing my own translations of biblical verse based on the hieroglyphic meanings of Hebrew words. Ancient Hebrew or Semitic Early writing grew out… Read More ›
Death By Drowning: A Poem Written the Day After The Supreme Court Overturned Roe v. Wade by Marcia W. Mount Shoop
Today at 10:06amI found himbelly uponly a little bloatedwater his deepdark grave. Turn the bucketoverTalk gently“How long have you beenin here, friend?” Turn him overhis final restdecomposing leaves,Poison Ivy canopySets off the blue
Sky Woman comes to Earth by Sara Wright
Every twig is singing a song of thanksgiving to Sky Woman who gifts steady rain nourishing earth’s parched body. Cracked ground softens soaks in minerals and scent sensing wonder.
Woman of the Isle of Women by Annelinde Metzner
Gratitude to the FAR community for welcoming my poems as of April of this year. Various earlier poems have been my way of introducing myself. My work as a poet and composer has been centered around welcoming the reemergence… Read More ›
“Guns: The Sanctity of Life” by Marie Cartier
What can I say about guns? I want to be like Gabby Giffords and survive I want to be Emma Gonzalez and fight back I want to be I want to talk about how GUNS are less regulated than my… Read More ›
Three poems by Sara Wright
Spirits of the Forest In Forest Presence I listen, leaves and needles rustle Voices Hum inside Hemlock bark sounding if only humans would listen Incantations erupt beneath the forest floor wrapped in a tapestry of threads millions of miles of… Read More ›
Butterfly Wounding by Sara Wright
Bittersweet orange invokes wounding past torment endured at the hands of those who would harm. Air is lightened, cleansed by absence Trees rejoice Slaughter shifts perspective Despair presses Diamond. Fritillary seeks her flower lover in waiting Tongue seeking.
From the Archives: And No Religion Too by Elizabeth Cunningham
This was originally posted on January 17, 2016 Religion. As a species we can’t seem to live with it or without it. There is dispute about the derivation of the word, but some scholars believe it has the same root… Read More ›
SNAPSHOTS FROM SUMMER by Esther Nelson
I’ve been told that most children in the United States learn to write haiku in third grade. At the very least they learn that haiku is a traditional poetic art form using seventeen syllables divided into lines of 5 – 7… Read More ›
A Chorus of Need: I Need an Abortion by Marie Cartier
I need an abortion and I can’t get one Because I don’t have the money to fly somewhere else other than …here Where I can’t get one I need an abortion and I can’t get one Because the kid, or… Read More ›
Refuge Bombing – 5 pieces by Sara Wright
In Maine the 4th of July…The bottom line is that women don’t create the chaos and unbearable noise that men do. It comes to a ‘head on the 4th – a time to create misery for all people who are… Read More ›
Little Red Deer by Sara Wright
At the forest edge twigs rustle, papery leaves betray a vision of grace emerging from behind my chair. Staring intently liquid coals will me to turn… You nibble a few grasses at my feet without fear. We meet on pine… Read More ›
Three Poems by Annelinde Metzner
To spend time in nature and deeply connect with Her is to allow enough time for Her surprising wisdom and dreamlike insights to open up for me. I call this “Plein Air Poetry.” It’s a joy to wait in… Read More ›
A Poem for Our Abortion Rights by Marie Cartier
Fecundity: the ability to produce an abundance of new growth, but also the ability to produce new ideas And now in the hour of our discontent, we are asked to worry about fecundity. I suppose we can call it that—have… Read More ›
Wildflower Wonder by Sara Wright
Ephemeral Emergence Arbutus trumpets seduce bumblebees three lobed trillium wings streak rose shining stars pearling forest floors wild oats bow bluebead swords unfurl wild lily leaves clasp palms in prayer stained glass hemlock sky filters light fragrant needles fracture… Read More ›
The Magic of the Ordinary, by Molly Remer
“Nothing is so simple, or so out of the ordinary for most of us, then attending to the present.” — Ernest Kurtz & Katherine Ketcham, The Spirituality of Imperfection I often speak of being in the temple of the ordinary,… Read More ›
Behold! The Treasures of Eden by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
The place and purpose of the Garden of Eden is a topic of endless fascination and interpretation. This blogpost looks at two biblical passages and the word eden itself to see what we can learn about its meanings. At its… Read More ›
Nettie’s Lament by Christine Irving
Reading Elizabeth Ann Bartlett’s beautiful post inspired me to share the following poem. I wrote it many years ago for my friend Lynette Eldridge to honor her love of the darker shorter days of winter. As a devotee of the… Read More ›
Celebrating Our Girls, by Molly Remer
We gathered rosesand bright zinniasto crown their heads with flowers,these shining daughterswho we’ve cradled and fedand loved with everythingwe haveand everything we are.We knelt before them and sang,our hands gently washing the feetthat we once carried inside our own bodiesand… Read More ›
The Gate by Sara Wright
Unaccustomed to joy his kindness barely torched her cells still under fierce attack from too many anti –bodies. What registered was quick – silver shining a clasp so easily undone… A golden sun illuminated two leaf strewn paths gilded in… Read More ›
Mary’s House by Sara Wright
Feminists have always found holy places in the forest, under trees, near springs or wells or by rivers and streams and this year my refuge has been the forest, where the goddess lives still…I have spent most of the summer… Read More ›