The Rose Compass
By The Rose Compass
The Rose CompassJul 31, 2020
"Anorexic": a poem by Eavan Boland
Wallace Stevens meets Leon Bridges through me, over coffee.
Polonius to His Son
"The Death of Marilyn Monroe," a poem by Sharon Olds.
Ode to Black History: Past, Present and Future
"Cinderella," a Poetic Retelling by Anne Sexton
I'm Too Hot 🔥 and it is April
Emily Dickinson Rises Again (with Erica Jong)
"Moreover" by Jack Gilbert
"Music Swims Back to Me" by Anne Sexton
Love and Money
"The Snow Man," by Wallace Stevens
Short Story, "Wampum" by Samantha Hunt
Reading Keats in 2005
Poem: Sharon Olds, "The Race"
Humpty Dumpty's Life
Which Side Are You On?
Women's Drum Circle
Thoughts at Mademoiselle Cafe, Paris
"Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou
Standing Up and Going Home
Something I Pray You Will Never Forget
"I Shall Paint My Nails Red" by Carol Satyamurti
"A lamp on a stand."
A reading of "Peter Quince at the Clavier" by Wallace Stevens
A reading of "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop
Women, Fiction, Money: Thoughts from Virginia Woolf
Lady Macbeth Grows a Conscience
Behind every weak man is a conniving woman.
"Speak to Us of Children" from The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran and Whitney Houston take a little vacation.
"All I Wanna Do"
Sheryl Crow meets Blanche Dubois. (At least that is what Katie called this.)
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty."
A reading of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats, and one of the most famous lines of literature.
"The Rich and the Kingdom of God"
A well-known scripture from the motherlovin' Jesus, read by a woman.
"The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks
Brooks says the personal is political. This poem, in particular, makes that so.
"The Emperor of Ice Cream" by Wallace Stevens
A poem by Wallace Stevens, read in a Southern drawl, 'cause there are a bit too many white men up in this joint and we gotta even the playin' field, no?
"What Work Is," by Philip Levine
Do you know what work is?
"Homage to My Hips" by Lucille Clifton
Short and perfect and right on.
"Becoming" by Titilope Sonuga
This poem is scripture. It will save you.
"I Have Been Her Kind" by Anne Sexton
A woman like that is not ashamed. Nor should she be.
"The Sun Rising" by John Donne
An old, rhyming poem, as beautiful now as it was in the era of England's Metaphysical Poets. 17th century.
A message on Giving, from Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran's noted sequence of poetry in The Prophet has many gems, treatises on beauty, marriage, parenting. This one is about giving. May we all receive.
"Ain't I a Woman?" by Sojourner Truth
I had a very clear image of Sojourner Truth one night over a chicken dinner, and I remembered her speech. Then she flowed through me, and we read it together. What a woman.
A Reading of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl"
This poem is long and weird, like many geniuses.
The Wise vs. the Wicked
The witch archetype is buried deep in our psyches, so when a woman acts with wisdom, or shrewdness, we may call it evil. This spiritual lesson helps uncover the difference between wicked action and the wisdom path.
"Divorce, Thy Name Is Woman"
This is for my biggest fan. Or foe. Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference. A reading of the poem, "Divorce, Thy Name Is Woman," by Anne Sexton, 1928-1974. (Momma, I feel I have a little bit of her inside me....)
Your Body Is Your Own
Written in September 2019, this brief essay teaches women (and men) to know how God feels about their body, that their body is their own, and that their boundaries regarding their body should be respected--ALWAYS. "Your body is not an object for anyone else. It is the source of your power, and it is your church. It is your temple, your sacred altar."
How do you know the truth from a lie?
An original spiritual teaching/oral her-story about lies, truth, evil, what is felt and known rather than what you are told to believe.
The Thunder, Perfect Mind
This is a reading of a classic Gnostic poem/revelation/scripture about divine feminine energy and wisdom. It was buried, lost. Those in charge did not want us to know.
Reading of "Cathedral" from Raymond Carver
An unnamed narrator meets a blind man and learns to see. From Raymond Carver's collection of short stories, "Cathedral."
"Medusa" by Sylvia Plath
Breath, moth, butterfly.
Reading of "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver (poem)
This Mary Oliver poem is much loved and much celebrated. It begins, "You do not have to be good."