A Month to Celebrate Words
I love April not just because it is the advent of spring but because it is the month we celebrate poets and poetry. April is National Poetry Month. The month we celebrate our wordsmiths and their writing. Poets and poetry have always inspired me as an artist and writer. I feel there's an honesty in the poetic word and that we can trust the poet to utter words that reflect their soul. We are fortunate here in Newark to have the Dodge Poetry Festival held here as a biennial event at NJPAC. Last year the event was held virtually because of the pandemic. Let's hope next year (2022) we will be able to gather together with the poets and revel live in their words.
I remember the occasions when I sat in audience listening to Allen Ginsburg speak about the writer's craft and Lucille Clifton too. Small and large groups gathering under white tents, in an old colonial church or a meeting hall on a warm, sunny autumn day in Waterloo Village. Now the event has moved to the city. It was at these events that I heard Gwendolyn Brooks, Amiri Baraka, Seku Sundiata, Ntozake Shange, Lucille Clifton and Allen Ginsburg before their transitions. I cannot express the excitement I felt as I sat and bathed in words of these artists that represented the finest of our national poets. Let us embrace the poet's word this month and find ourselves healed by it. For poetry is just another way of saying art is life and let us celebrate it.
– Toni Thomas
Words to Heal
By Esther D. Morales
Words surround me in all the roles I perform. They inhabit in the spaces where I serve, work, think, feel, and live. When words are used to guide the teaching- learning process, I am an educator. When words nurture my verses, I am a poet. When words share a message of hope or denounce injustices and inequality, I am a spiritual leader. Words become vessels to convey feelings, thoughts, or ideas. Blessed is the Word! Blessed are the words! Blessed are those who use the words to heal!
Many of you have known me as a poet, the one who writes and acts her poems. Yes, I am the poet! Poetry has been a source of healing to me for many years. It has been through my verses that I have found what my mission in life is. For years, I witnessed how my poetry has reached and touched minds and souls. Memories of people sharing how my poems reminded them about their own life experiences have showed me the power of the words. There were moments when the response to my poems were tears or just a deep and prolonged eye contact to confirm the connection. What a sublime experience is to see how creativity dances with the words in an ocean of infinite possibilities!
Words followed me to Drew University when I decided to pursue a Master’s in Divinity at the Theological School. The last five years have been an indescribable experience which promoted growth in all aspects of life. One more time, I have witnessed how the words have the power of permeating my entire existence. I do not believe that there is any difference between writing a sermon or writing a poem. Both are just sublime experiences where words kiss the spirit. Drew University became a second home where words have been a source of healing in a different but simultaneously similar way. It has been a profound but challenging experience because I went back to school, after thirty years out of the college experience. I finished my Master’s in Education in 1987, and I went back to the university experience in 2017. It has also been challenging because English is my second language. However, I have seen how words are words in any language! Gratitude is a humble word which attempt to describe my response to such a blessing. I will graduate in May 2021 after being dreaming, playing, flirting, touching, reaching, reading, and interpreting words. Additionally, I have incorporated poetic words in all the papers I have written. Of course, poetry will never abandon my spirit!
Being a spiritual leader allows me to continue using words to serve others, to offer spiritual care, to walk with others in their own healing process. When people face the suffering caused by illnesses, losses, or any other painful experience, my mission is to reach them by using words. The role of offering pastoral care embraces the words sent by a Divine Being who whispers in my ears what to say. It is the Word who guides and illuminates the path I chose to follow. Words have saved me from dark spaces. Words have holistically saved my entire being.
“ If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive ”
WombSpace
by Shonda D. Nicholas
After having been
Thrust into a state of momentary darkness, deep despair
Mind in turmoil, body so heavy and
Spirit on low
We inhale and We exhale,
We inhale, and We exhale
We inhale and We exhale
Finding peace in the breath
We breathe
Meditating in loud silence,
We remember a time
that had us smack dab in the middle of darkest bliss
We recognize where we are
Not just caught up in darkness but actually
wrapped up as life's holy gift
We are in a soul space,
an anointed space
a sacred space,
a divine space,
a Birthing space
We are in WOMBspace
That space where We came together
Molecule after molecule, cell after cell heart, body, spirit
Molded and shaped
by loves hands and patience's possibility
We are in WOMBspace
Where the color of our skin is a mix of the finest of hues,
a space where we embrace our hips, thighs, bellies and behinds,
in that type of space where We are uniquely divine
We are in WOMBSpace
That space that requires Experiences
whole food,
Graces nourishment and
Hopes encouragement
We are in WOMBSpace
Walking through walls and dancing across water,
facing trials and tribulations
learning life lessons and stepping into identity
We are in WombSpace
Smack dab in the middle of darkest bliss
Giving Birth to ourselves
each time We remember
who We are and who We get to be
Circle of Sisters
For women who want to deepen their connection to nature & the elements
Spring Cleaning
When I think of spring cleaning I think of clearing, cleansing and grounding. I also think of personal rituals that will help me focus and stay grounded on a task at hand or a desired outcome. Whether I want to cleanse my space or focus myself, spring is a good time to begin such a practice. Use white sage or herbal bundles to smudge the air, incense to purify the air, herbal essences to anoint oneself with to induce nature's healing support. Spring is also a good time to cleanse our favorite stones and crystals in clear water for another cycle of use. Spring cleaning is not just good for the home it is good for ourselves especially now during these challenging times.
Namaste
