Apology Flowers
Gwydion,
Did nobody tell you
That owl is not a punishment?
Like all men who shout names as you leave them
The curses that rain down on women who go their own way
By men who forget
The ancient honour of the words
Created by our mothers
As they talked and sung and gathered
Those words twisted
And used against us.
Virgins belong to themselves
Birthing sacred life onto earth
Spinsters weave the fabric of creation
Like the grandmother spider
As they hold riches in their webs.
Whores are holy wombs
From which we are all born and to which you ache to return
In a woman's loving embrace
And owls are the wisdom of the night
The communion
With the wild feminine dark
That you crave and fear.
I like to think she laughs
Like all the women who escape
From the clutches of men.
She traded apology flowers
For
Wings.
- Jenny Wren
Artwork "Little Blodeuwedd" by Tammy Wampler
The Empty Roar
As the water thundered
The sweat from her body
Was the rising scent
Of weather turning.
Her shadow was waiting for her
And the sprites that hid in dark caves
Traced her steps.
The birds swooped across
The water
Singing to their sister
An evening song;
"Now you are part of our land
How will you fly home?
Where have you come from
Inanna, Inanna,
Little Jenny Wren?
Your life is on fire
And your feathers are gone."
What is most lost and lonely
And precious
Is found here
In the empty roar.
- Jenny Wren
Plan For Peace
My time alone is my plan for peace
Where I fill myself up with love.
Do not be misled
That spiritual growth happens in these moments
Of quiet nourishment.
As a mother
And a friend
A daughter
Mostly a lover
I feel like I am always triggered.
Somebody
Is attacking me
And bringing up what I try to bury.
It takes me a while to realise
It is an old sword
It is an old story
And I am only attacking myself.
It is in those moments
When I feel like hope is lost
When I disappear for days
Into the dark
And I emerge to remember
Love is never lost.
My time alone is my plan for peace
But that is not where the magic really happens.
- Jenny Wren
