Guidelines



Submission Guidelines: Send 1-3 unpublished poems in the body of an email (NO ATTACHMENTS) to nvneditor[at]gmail.com. No simultaneous submissions. Use "Verse News Submission" as the subject line. Send a brief bio. No payment. Authors retain all rights after 1st-time appearance here. Scroll down the right sidebar for the fine print.
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Show all posts

Sunday, May 12, 2013

WOMEN'S RITES

by Tricia Knoll



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.