#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream
Lily of the valley berries in September woods
“Convallaria majalis is a herbaceous perennial plant that forms extensive colonies by spreading underground. . . The fruit is a small orange-red berry 5–7 mm diameter that contains a few large whitish to brownish colored seeds that dry to a clear translucent round bead 1–3 mm wide.”
Out into another wet morning after spending some time preparing for my Wednesday morning writing group. Warming up to what I’ll lead as a prompt today, I’m acutely aware of current events, and I know these women writers will be as well: a secret revealed by a woman who kept it for decades until she was compelled to reveal it, even facing the highest of stakes – public shaming, being discredited, and even death threats for sharing her truth about a powerful and priviledged white male judge. I find this poem, “Secrets,” by a little known female poet, Lola Ridge, born in 1873. This poem, and the prompt, led to some of the deepest, most honest and authentic sharing and writing this group has ever produced. Each writer listens, so compassionately, and writes, so creatively and honestly. We will not let our stories be erased.
“Secrets
infesting my half-sleep…
did you enter my wound from another wound
brushing mine in a crowd…
or did I snare you on my sharper edges
as a bird flying through cobwebbed trees at sun-up
carries off spiders on its wings?
Secrets,
running over my soul without sound,
only when dawn comes tip-toeing
ushered by a suave wind,
and dreams disintegrate
like breath shapes in frosty air,
I shall overhear you, bare-foot,
scatting off into the darkness….
I shall know you, secrets
by the litter you have left
and by your bloody foot-prints.”
All photos and text ©Kelly DuMar 2018 unless otherwise attributed