for jennifer and joan,
with gratitude
(i’m just the stenographer;
this piece was created
by 32 remarkable women.)
We have all been here
together, before.
What you need, you will find.
Is it answers you seek? Truth? Tranquility?
Or merely … possibility?
From this place I will take:
The power of the circle. Spirals.
The breaths of a million years ago.
Blessings. The ancient, inviting scent
of the temples.
White lace. Black Madonna.
Red peppers. Green olives. Yellow sun.
Pink morning sky. Several sets of purple toenails.
The bluest water I have ever seen…
and the big orange glow
of a Gozitan moon.
Goat cheese. Garlic. Sun-dried tomatoes.
Honey sesame bread. Hummus.
And eggplant,
permanently tattooed on my tongue.
Cisk lager. Hop Leaf. Kinnie.
Piercingly strong, dark coffee.
Tales of scotch and water for breakfast.
Listen: Xlendi. Ghajnsielem. Tarxien.
Hagar Qim. What do you hear in the names?
Valetta. Marsaxlokk. Mnajdra. Ggantija …
How many faces can you see in the stone?
This place has made us feel sacred.
Timeless.
In awe. In tune.
Centred.
Blessed.
At peace … Home.
This place has given us
visions of living limestone. Sweet, smooth rock.
Magic beans. Swollen vulvas.
Exquisite fat ladies … Maiden, Mother, Crone.
Wrapped in the loving arm of a giantess
we have been tugged
inside the dreaming,
closer to the lap of the goddess …
a place of radical joy
where we feel grateful for love … vision …
healing … music …
for everything.
you have done ritual before.
If you change places,
your name won’t know where to find you.
what i expected is not what i got.
i need to do more of this.
Look at that moon.
You can’t get much more
hot-damn halleluiah
than that!
My other name is … bursting at the seams.
I am divinity and I am nothing.
All will be answered in time.
I don’t need to be anxious; I can just let it come.
we can come here and circle,
and i can experience nirvana
… i appreciate the breaths.
So what intrigues you more?
The sleeping lady
or the slamming door?
revealing, renewal, revision
returning …
the story
is about
to change.