we are the women and we will not relinquish our original instructions

Yes, this poetry was first posted here in September 2010, but
these women insisted on being heard again and are not easy to refuse.
The art is new this time — and is linked to an article in “The Mirror of Isis.”

we are the women who squatted in the fields
who birthed our babies and anointed ourselves
with a splash of impure water
we are the ones who folded the tents, filled alabaster jars
gathered the oxen, the oils, the tambourine
and with venus perched low in the sky,
meandered through the night toward uncertain destination.

we are the women who have gnawed off bleeding appendages
escaped from legholds and cages draped in chiffon and lace,
plunged into icy waters to retrieve forgotten pearls
walked through flames of inquisition, grillings by self-pronounced judges and juries,
we were dragged to the gallows for pledging allegiance to truth above all
and despite the shaming and the maiming,
our collective voice has never been silenced.

we are the weavers, the healers, the poets, the painters,
the mothers, the courtesans, the daughters, the queens
the bringers of all that is lovely and alive
we walk a tautened rope separating genius and madness
labor every single day to bring forth the ripe fruits of creation
drip and ooze with overflowing expression straining for release,
and in exchange for our priceless offerings to the soul of humanity
we are offered thimbles as containers for torrential showers of unleashed passion,
meager restitution for the strip-mining of gemfields aglitter with beauty and wisdom.

we are the women who give it all away every time
compromise the tender blossoming of our own interior gardens
to take up unsustainable positions in an unrelenting world
we willingly stuff fragments of ourselves into strawflat mattresses
and on back burners drained of fuel,
while we obscure the breadth and depth of our illuminative splendor.

we are the women who have been blessed with a radiant grace
and damned as harlots, Eve, Delilah, Jezebel
we carry ten thousand universes within our souls
and the knowings of eternity in every drop of our blood
we have been abandoned by fathers of damaged hearts
mothers too tightly bound in their own misbegotten apprehensions
sisters dead-set for battle in an unholy match of acquisition.

we are the women who have carried the light since before time began
who donned the breastplate of warrior and scoured the countryside in acts of holy triage
we have eviscerated ourselves in the face of twisted obligation
shrouded our all-seeing eyes from mirrors of authentic reflection
danced on floors littered with poisoned slings and arrows that missed their mark,
and continued to love in the face of unspeakable predatory maraudings of the spirit.

we are the women who once agreed
to spread emergent starlight over a scorched and burning earth
and we will not relinquish our original instructions.

sanctified by divine contract and condemned by the meek and frightened
at once scorned for being too much yet diminished for being not enough,
we are the women who dance with the moon
cavort with fairies and roughhouse with stallions
and we will not relinquish our original instructions.

we are the women who will live on, remain standing
long after others have fallen under the weight
of their own perceived predominance

we will not crumble
we will not fall

we are the women.