When I first came across this phrase of Virginia Woolf’s
with what I know
It seemed the fitting phrase that stands out about her.
Her famous struggles are the ones we’ve revisited
and are famous to us.

We women have inherited all the doubts –
and confuse all matters that we think are arising.
All matters arising
cannot be confused with the odds against us.

Our shock-receiving capacity allows the artist in us to want more
beyond measure …
more than being the feelers and sensors –
the empaths and patient givers.

The same force that drives the universe is driving us as creators.
Life is created through us
we , the birthers –
we are shock-receiving witnesses.

I have turned trauma into art and cruelty and shame into beauty.
Step outside and there is only wonder.
I dig into the soul of the earth
to find what germinates there.
I plant the way my life will grow
I birth beauty with my face to the desperation and fear around me.

As it is all one thing happening
I dive into the shallows
to shape anything with crude metals
and love
as a witness shaper.