Monday, November 12, 2007

The After November 10th Party

The Party this past Saturday was amazing. Our theme was "our journeys". We started the after noon talking about how each woman's journey is unique....all her own....designed just for her... Here is the bottom line or focus about walking on our journey.....on our path in this world. No woman travels the same path as another. We stand alone, making our way in the world the best we know how. As alone as we are, we can walk together, holding hands and holding each other's hearts; walking alone on our own journey, yet together with the sisters of our hears, our girlfriends!

Jen Cohen, our presenter, did an amazing job helping us to explore our paths, our stories, our journeys through poetry. We read poetry and then we talked about it's meaning in our lives by either writing our own poem or just writing what came to our heart and mind. It was an inspiring afternoon. Here is a poem she shared with us that really inspired me.

When death comes

(by Mary Oliver)

When death comes

like the hungry bear in autumn;

when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse


to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;

when death comes like the measle-pox;


when death comes

like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,


I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering;

what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?


And therefore I look upon everything

as a brotherhood and sisterhood,


and I look upon time as no more than an idea,

and I consider eternity as another possibility,


and I think of each life as a flower, as common

as the field daisy, and as singular,


and each name a comfortable music in the mouth,

tending, as all music does, toward silence,


and each body a lion of courage, and something

precious to the earth.


When it's over, I want to say: all my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I was the bridegroom taking the world into my arms.

When it's over, I don't want to wonder

if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened

or full of argument.


I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.

1 comment:

Melanie Calitri Holden said...

Hi Wendy, and all the Magic Girls who attended the last party! Jen, your presentation was warm and wonderful, rich with expression and feeling. This is the poem I wrote during our time together. Thought I would post it to share. I read it over and over and it reminds me of who I really am in this moment called NOW.

********

....The best stories are about moments. Someone said, "My life is a series of post-its." Yeah, I get that. Each moment for me is a novel, bound in supple, fragrant leather, or bright pink satin with threads of gold. Each moment is a lifetime, and I am grateful for each, even the one's where clutter overwhelms me and I am exhausted from my habit of helping others before myself.

This moment is a bright blue skiy, just before the sun burns orange, with wispy clouds blowing at high speed. My feet are embedded in sand - cold at this time of day. The seagulls call to the wind and I am flooded with the ecstasy of the Ocean. He is my lover and friend and I am so glad to be here in this lifetime, this moment, this wisp of cloud or blaze of orange.

Love to all of you. Keep sparkling, Magic Girls!

Melanie