Imagine

I imagine a day

when all will

f         .

Wonder

often I wonder

if perhaps it twas

a man

Sleeping Beauties

Kiss Sleeping Beauty Good-Bye

by Madonna Kolbenschlag

The book that broke the spell of feminine myths and models, giving men & women a new direction, continues to engage and enlighten, asking, “What does a woman want?"

HarperSanFrancisco ~ Copyright 1979

Forward & Postscript Copyright 1988

Fairytale

Initiation & Descent

from the Heroine's Journey by Maureen Murdock (p.87-94)

they say you lurk here still, perhaps

in the depths of the earth or on

some sacred mountain, they say

you walk (still) among men, writing signs

in the air, in the sand, warning warning weaving

the crooked shape of our deliverance, anxious

not hasty. Careful. You step among cups, step out of

crystal, heal with the holy glow of your

dark eyes, they say you unveil

a green face in the jungle, wear blue

in the snows, attend on

births, dance on our dead, croon, fuck, embrace

our weariness, you lurk here still, mutter

in caves, warn, warn and weave

warp of our hope, link hands against

the evil in the stars, o rain

poison upon us, acid which eats clean

wake us like children from a nightmare, give the slip

to the devourers whom I cannot name

the metal men who walk

on all our substance, crushing flesh

to swamp

                       Diane Di Prima, “Prayer to the Mothers”

Women’s Initiation

The descent is characterized as a journey to the underworld, the dark night of the soul, the belly of the whale, the meeting of the dark goddess, or simply as depression. It is usually precipitated by a life-changing loss. … ….

Go

Mistakes I’ve made could cost me the most

Things I’ve said to see could blind me instead

I thought the worst mistake I could make

was all the destruction I could unleash

But maybe instead it was all that I said

when I was looking for faith and begging for love

Lost in the night, so close to what’s bright

finding things along the way that didn’t come

together till the last thought

And maybe he was listening better than I thought

It’s so hard to be sure when everyone I know

is playing a game to get to the top

of a place filled with shame and blame

You

Its so easy to get distracted and fall back asleep

How did you become everything?

What was everything before you?

It’s just so hard to see past myself

when I want to be with you so much

I can’t think about them when my

heart’s been broken open wide

to suffer from all life’s wind

I really don’t care about them in the end

right now and forever all I want is to be

close to you

You’ve created a monster

I don’t even deserve to be

but I don’t care. All I care about is you

All I want is you

All I ache for is you

All I need is you

YOU, YOU, YOU!!!!!!

What have you done to me!

I don’t even like myself anymore

But it really doesn’t matter now

cause all I can feel is the hole you left behind

It’s always here…it’s never far

Distractions and illusions amid mass confusions

Steering the way, directing my day

lend me a laugh, or a wise thing to say

scattered treasures to help overcome obstacles

Along the way

But all along

The hole inside

Is always near

A second away

Lying right behind

The thin mask of day

The Truth

Looking ahead

never falling back in time

We’ve lost our connection to the Truth

Not the truth of man or science or logic

Not the truth of facts & statistics & theories

But the Truth, the real truth to it all

Don’t even respect your very own soul

It’s no wonder life lost all its wonder

We live to prove

We’re better than most

Bitterness and betrayals

Swallow our souls

We’ll give it all up

To spend more at the mall

Just do what’s right

What you know in your heart

If we all did this

Life would restart