“Whatever you choose to do, leave tracks. That means don’t do it just for yourself. You will want to leave the world a little better for your having lived.” - Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Women of the Moon
The mysteries of the moon
moved through her veins like seasons -
seedlings of hibernating truth
coaxed month by month, year by year
by the waxing, waning moon
into awareness,
into memory.
Harvested, prepared, consumed
the remains of the feast
were plowed under the empty, bone dry fields,
returned to winter soil for rest,
to digest and decompose
into possibilities.
In the warm wet dirt
of the Earth’s embrace,
the wordless voices
of every life that embodied light -
galloped, crawled, swam, flew, slithered, and bounded
their way into the conversation.
It was a cacophany of voices -
strident, demanding, soothing, and redolent with passion -
unanimous in its decision.
Timing was always an issue -
clocks recalcitrant accomplices
dragging their petulent heels through
the minutes, seconds, and hours of every day
until moonlight had her way
and remanded time to sleep.
In the arms of dreams
the time-troll relinquished control
and the sisterhood of timeless souls -
the old, the new, the many, the few -
gathered beneath the new moon
to reclaim and redistribute
their power.
So tell me,
whose faces do you see
in the visage of the moon?
Whose wise and familiar eyes
worry lines and crows feet
greet you as you turn your face
to the gathering skies -
as the first warm drops
of our collective tears fall
across the cracked and thirsty fields
of our half-forgotten selves
and the moon slides into alignment? - Jena Ball
P.S. I really would like to know who the Women of the Moon are for you and why. I’d love to turn the night sky into a celebration of women’s strength and resilience by replacing the man in the moon with Women of the Moon. What do you think? Send your suggestions to Jena Ball (@) CritterKin (dot) com or DM me here in Substack. Hugs!
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I am totally a Moon Child.
The moon brings me joy and comfort. I see the face of my strong independent mother and my fiercely brave and independent paternal grandmother. And of course, the women who came before us and have passed on...those women of many tribes and countries - all fighting to prove women ARE the Woe of Man...the stronger of the human species in all ways that raise up humanity. Men did not like this, so they held us down. No more!
Women of the Moon are all those voices here and beyond saying "We are Speaking".
I love this idea, Jena! My women of the moon -- my mom and grandmother (her mother); Amanda Ripley, Dr. Bernice King, Meggan Watterson, E. Jean, you, Gloria Horton-Young, Lorraine Evanoff, Diane K24, my daughters Dr. Kelly and Sara JP. My dear friends Mish, Mare, Deb, Liz, Claudia, Ros, Viv, Toby, and Judy. Maya Angelou! Mary Oliver. Dr. Clarissa Pinkoles-Estes. Susan B. Anthony. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Emily Dickinson. I've been making a list from Gloria's poems of women I wanted to learn more about. I love this idea of "Women of the Moon." I have a new list started. =) Your poem is beautiful.