Women budding

darling buds daring to bloom against the odds

Winters late frost and early teeth biting

It seems all at once a bloom something recognizable 

A symbol of what happens with all good growth, time and light

Curled into ourselves a haven, a hope for what is to come

Every woman here had to believe in life after dark

Women budding: into space 665 days, into the Supreme court, 9,861 days, onto major league baseball fields, 1,490 days. 

And that is just the flashy news.

Women budding while cheering on other sprouts, while we worked to feed and house ourselves while we hadn’t a clue what came next. At times, it was only bright green faith, unsure but scrappy. Buds which came to us as seeds, now bear fruit.

A life made precious and delicious, all deep red.

Stronger under the sun, we named our flower, Lean-On-Your- Sister.

Wrote the instructions for sowing: Reach for that which is yours, let sunshine in, a divine timing.

Applaud your every turn, blooming can be frightening. Rest. 

Come Spring, come new earth smell in our hair and nails.

Come what may, we’ll be ready. Welcome our fears like friends,

A fertilizer. What comes to us will always grow. What's ripe or rot

we’ll always know trusted tangles in this ecosystem we call home.

Come rain, come aphids and morning dew, come prudence, come mother

Come you advocates too, 

Budding women, come see. 

Come see what grew!

While you thought you were 

sleeping a new and wonderful, 

beautiful you.