Patchwork Woman

I never imagined i would be standing
in a forest, 
in front of six hundred women
at once!
and speaking
from the heart
about the beings
giant and tiny
seen and unseen
who matter most to me.

it didn't matter that i'd never practiced public speaking
and that i didn't know what i was going to say.
i leaned back into the streamline of spirit
and i gave a speech.
for those who were there, you know what was said
and for those that helped me, thank you.

i am here for truth. 
i am here for beauty. 
i am here for the medicine of stillness. 
and of listening. 
and i am here for the power that comes
when we speak from that place.
i am here for the heart-waters
i am here for the body-earth.
i am here for the virtues of Woman:
all that She can be
and all that She is.

i am a Patchwork Woman
i tend to many threads
i weave up time, and its relations
i spin the stories that i receive
from an ancient regenerating field
where our Grandmothers used to live,
and still whisper from.

i do my best
to speak with courage
and wield my tenderness
into a resilient force
that strives to help the rivers flow.

i am an Ordinary woman
i am a Patchwork woman
i am built of the many women before me-
i fold their blinding brilliance
and deep shadows into my shawls.
i am here
and i am also always there,
sitting beside them
in the stream.