Poetry – Red Tent Living

Find Your Zen Again

By: redtentwomen December 7, 2020December 5, 2020

Day to Day, Faith, Monthly Themes, Warrior, WholeheartedAbuse, America, black america, Natasha Stevens, national healing, Poetry, Race, race reconciliation, Racism, systemic racism, white america3 Comments

The truth is like a lion: let it loose and it will defend itself. —Saint Augustine Autumn leaves crunch under my feet like a forbidden Kit Kat bar. And yet I keep walking—far away from the noise of the day. I don’t want to hear. I don’t want to feel. I want to heal. Scars on…

Sheltered in Place

By: redtentwomen May 26, 2020June 3, 2020

LiteratureCOVID-19, Heather Medley, Poetry2 Comments

I am numb, mindlessly scrolling. Familiar businesses post new guidelines for safety. The words “contactless” and “social distancing” impact me. I am surprised by an ache and try to make space for her.

broken is not Broken

By: redtentwomen May 18, 2020May 17, 2020

Day to Day, Faith, LiteratureAnne Pharr, Breakable, Competent and Capable, Poetry3 Comments

“We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars . . . .”– 2 Corinthians 4:7 (NLT) Why do I try so hard to be Intact— to hold together these shards even as I watch fragments fall through my fingers, sharp edges stinging my thin skin,…

The Gray Whale

By: redtentwomen May 8, 2020August 6, 2020

LiteratureLiz Nelson, Poetry3 Comments

The massive gray whale lingered In a moment of suspended animation as She is ascending from the ocean floor up To exchange a drag of air The vast navy blue depths hold her Weightlessly Effortlessly

The Swimmer

By: redtentwomen May 5, 2020May 4, 2020

Day to Day, Faith, Literature, UncategorizedBarbara Beecham, Joy, Peace, Poetry, Sadness9 Comments

Sadness swims inside of me. Doing the backstroke across my heart. Flipping and repeating, gracefully kicking backwards as it observes where it has been.

In Her Image

By: redtentwomen April 3, 2020April 2, 2020

Art, Day to Day, Faith, Femininity, LiteratureHolly Lowmiller, Inspiration, Poetry8 Comments

In Her Image I am a dissident daughter No one taught me, God is my Great Mother War alive in my mind Starvation in my desecrated heart

Unstoppable Force: truth in love

By: redtentwomen March 30, 2020March 29, 2020

Day to Day, LiteratureDanielle Castillejo, Poetry, Recovery, TherapyLeave a Comment

Truth in love. I wait for you Not very patient Confused, battered, Ramming my way along.

She Knows

By: redtentwomen March 23, 2020March 22, 2020

Day to Day, LiteratureJill English, Poetry6 Comments

God is present in the dark. I remember reading this in scripture – something about the darkness being as light to God. Like her, you were in the darkness before you were in the light. I watch her – this tiny human who tests the limits of her independence. This tiny human who tests the…

The Evidence Is In

I am done proving me. My life is not one prolonged job interview, a permanent Olympic trial, an ongoing all-state music audition. I am not a college application for admissions officials to peruse, an employee scrutinized for business acumen or her annual performance review, an associate striving to make partner. I refuse to be