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| Image: A Mama’s Day E-card available from Strong Families |
The crossword puzzle clue for 2 down
required a word for women’s rites leader.
I couldn’t parse any cross-current lines.
I combed through suffragettes and freedom fighters.
Sojourner, Amelia, Victoria, Abigail, Elizabeth and
tried to cram their names in. Margaret Sanger? Shacklers
to the White House gates? Rosa? Jane Roe?
Then I read it right -- rites.
The woman priest, absolver of wrongs?
Desolver of woes? Healer of hurts?
End-of-days angel? Candlemaker?
Coiler of the womb cord? Doula?
She-who-washes-the-dead?
Nothing fit.
Peacemaker
Apple plucker
Palm reader
Stonemason
Bread baker
Bee tender
Bed maker
Caretaker
Crone
Godmother
Goddess
Sorceress
Star eater
The answer in the next day’s paper: mother.
Tricia Knoll is a Portland, Oregon poet and a proud mother.