...In the Neighborwives’ Garden

In the twilight
The highway’s rhythm a few blocks away
Creates a lulling to cradle the occasional barking dog, crying child
And basketball dribbled down
The center of the street
Streetlights overtake the stars in the city,
Punctuated with flashing lights from the police in the distance

Deep in this city
On a good block in a not-that-good neighborhood
Lives the Neighborwives’ garden

On this night,
Womyn assemble and invoke air, fire, water, earth and great mother
To awaken the collective and individual goddess

Teenagers roam the street talking loud
Cats hold stand-offs under porches
Except for the calico who practices witchcraft

Swaying, praying, chanting, dancing womyn
Deign this place holy
Hot red power
Shoots up from the fire
Raining back down
And infusing

Sacred tomato plants
With green fruit
And lily-scented breaths
Bear witness

To magic

¤ Tari Muñiz 2012 from We'Moon 2014 pg 147

Tari Muñiz (Lansing, MI) I am a writer and a witch. Mostly, I am a gardener, a person trying to see love lurking everywhere.

image: Share This Day  © Nancy Watterson 2004 (Oakland, OR) I am artist, mother, grandmother, teacher and gardener. In these ways I connect to the eternal and send my arrows into the future. Wherever I go I find powerful women who are quietly nurturing and creating the becoming world. www.nwattersonscharf.com