FALLING UPWARD
Falling upwards into impossible blue, leaving one white pony behind. All peace to each one of you. Dora
RAVEN TREE
And so my raven-topped tree flies again. Merry, Merry, everyone. I hope your Christmas is full of light and that a bit of magic has been winging its way to…
FIRST THOUGHT:
First thought: The wintered birds, returned. Second thought: On the phone I kept having to call her back to me. She was listening, elsewhere, beyond me. Third thought: The church…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMILY DICKINSON
It is sweet Emily's birthday today, whose poems fed me when I was a teenager and whose wild dashes and refusal to live by convention fueled my sense of possibility.…
3X5 STORIES: BLUE SPRUCE, ROOTS UNBOUND
Beautiful people, my dear friend Jennifer Rickards has created an amazing project called Three By Five, collecting snapshot stories of moments that have altered the path of people’s lives on 3x5…
SANCTUARY, IN HONOR OF THE 40th ANNIVERSARY OF CRISIS CENTER NORTH
Sometimes I come across a posting or article about my work on social media and, after being initially startled, I find myself grateful that I get to live as I…
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IS THE MOST COMMON KILLER OF WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD
“A U.N. report revealed that 87,000 women were murdered last year, and over half were killed by intimate partners or family members... This means that, globally, six women are killed…
THANK YOU IS A PRAYER
THANKS Listen with the night falling we are saying thank you we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings we are running out of the glass rooms…
NEW POEMS AND OLD FRIENDS AND SAVING LIVES, TOGETHER
I serve on the Advisory Board of Paws for Empowerment with Crisis Center North, which is the first canine-assisted court program in the greater Pittsburgh region, created by my dear…
ANGELS ON MY AIRPLANE
I fell asleep writing on my flight, and in the always in between space that flying seems to stretch open within me, I dreamt there was an angel on the…
40 YEARS AND 80,000 LIVES
Poetry and activism bring me back to Pennsylvania once again. I am honored to have been commissioned to write a poem celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Crisis Center North in…
THE WOMEN JUST KEEP RISING
The final count of votes in the 2018 Midterm Election leads to a historic moment in US politics as a record 117 women are elected into office, with 100 Democrats…
THIS MOMENT.
THIS MOMENT TONIGHT.I've just gotten home from the gym, where I found myself in another unexpected conversation with a survivor of childhood violence. Despite knowing this person for years, I…
USE YOUR VOICE
I'm using one of the voices I’ve got, as if all of our futures depend on it.Please use your voice too, for the future we are making together.All peace to…
BEAUTY CAN SAVE YOU
Fall has always been my favorite season. All of the colors and the sideways light feel a little bit like magic to me, a little bit like the best kind…
YOUR BOUNDARIES ARE NOT THE PROBLEM
If someone's repeated response to your healthy boundaries is only anger, your boundaries are not the problem in the relationship.All peace to you. Dora