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Kim De Leon's avatar

Sometimes the most radical thing a woman can do is listen to her own heart and meet her own needs.

This poem came spilling out of me last night as I was fixing dinner, contemplating an upcoming solo trip I'm taking and how others have looked at me when I told them, the little barbed comments they have said.

I've come to believe that when someone hisses, "It must be nice..." with such venom, it is their own repressed yearnings begging to be acknowledged, their heart genuinely longing for that thing that "must be nice."

How Dare She

How dare she take time for herself.

It’s not for work or family?

For herself?

How dare she go away for a week

to think

and write

and be still.

What about her children and husband?

What will they do without her?

Who will be there to cook their meals,

wash their dishes,

and pick up their dirty socks that all over the floor?

What right does she have to be independent?

To be free

for a time.

The audacity.

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Todd Jenkins's avatar

Sustain

More than livelihood,

sustenance is life-li-hood —

finding our true place

in the (neighbor)hood

of existence.

What is it,

physically, mentally,

emotionally, and spiritually,

that will support

and accompany us

throughout our journey,

in hopeful, helpful ways?

For me, it’s been

other people fluent

in the laying on of ears,

who aren’t repelled

by a creek of tears,

and not separated

with a fog of fears.

How ‘bout you?

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