Breath, moth, butterfly.

This Mary Oliver poem is much loved and much celebrated. It begins, "You do not have to be good." 

Rilke instructs his mentee on how to avoid looking outside for answers, and instead turn inward, where all of life flourishes. 

The Victorian poets, such as Robert Browning, often wrote dramatic monologues for poetry. This one is about a duke who is showing off his art collection and talking about the wife he had killed...or did he? It's hard to tell. Anyway, there's a little slip-up toward the end, but I'm not trying to win an Oscar, babe.

A poem about John the Baptist, and the passage from the Gospel of Mark 6: 24-25 where he is beheaded. You can find more writing and poetry surrounding topics of spirituality, and creative reframing of biblical tales and messages, on https://motherjana.medium.com/.

A witch is a witch, of course, of course, a witch is a witch is a witch! Or maybe she isn't. You decide. What's a witch mean, anyway? (Oh yeah, "wise woman." Where did all those ladies go?) (Poem originally by William Butler Yeats.)

A reading of Titilope Sonuga's "This Is How We Disappear." Women, this is our revival song. And you can find more of Sister Titilope's amazing poetry, and watch her breathe it to life, by following this link. She is one of the most beautiful and inspiring poets and when I was feeling down, her words lifted me up. They still do. May they lift you too.

Hi.

Consider this 60-minute episode your Quaker meeting for the week. Quakers sit in silence and wait on God, or the Holy Spirit, to move through and speak a ministry. On this crazy night, that Holy Spirit chose me! She even woke me up from bed at 1:30 in the morning! I thought, "This is crazy, I should be sleeping!" But you know, the Lordess works in mysterious ways.  [email protected]

An original poem by Jana Rose, based on The Gospel of Matthew, 27:19.