Misunderstood throughout history,
tortured, drowned and burnt at the stake,
you scrutinise Trumpian mockery
amid the terrible intensity
of wildfires, plague and death,
and all their haunted weirdness.
You have seen us at our worst;
this wicked summer we have seen it too,
and we rue our inaction in the face of doom.
Forget the shaman, Chiron and Mentor,
all male, all muscle-bound and bristling
with testosterone. We need a feminine touch:
Earth Mothers versed in listening
to the sky, the air, the soil beneath their feet,
the quickening of the seasons’ beat,
who understand the textures of rain,
who can green our planet once again
and still the tongues of rampant men.
With our dead just beyond the edge
of thought, we invoke you to pledge
your wisdom and allegiance to a condemned
race, gentle hands to guide us away from the end.
Kim M. Russell, 22nd September 2020
My response to earthweal weekly challenge: Mentors for a Changed World
In these dark times, Brendan would like us to write about mentors. ‘Can these wise ones help with times like these? Can they rally and nourish a forwarding center? What are the figures, from myth and mystery, from the animal world and our dead, from prehistoric depths and personal history, who can tell us something important about going forward?’
I have taken words and phrases I found in Brendan’s essay and woven them into a poem.
writing in north norfolk 
Fabulous stuff!
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Cheers Sarah!
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‘We need a feminine touch:/Earth Mothers versed in listening’ – I agree with you completely here, Kim. How terribly are our testosterone-fuelled, headstrong world leaders performing at the moment? It’s high time we listened to what Mother Earth is trying to tell us.
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Poets follow their feminine intuition and we are listening.
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It’s interesting that we both turned to invocations. These are wise words. (K)
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Great minds and all that, Kerfe. I’ll be over to read yours later.
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Fantastic!! Mabon blessings as another season passes. Mother Earth will be the final arbiter 🍁🍂❤️
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Thank you, Sue!
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Wow! A wonderful invocation. May it be so. I love this poem so much. Women are used to cleaning up messes. Time to roll up our sleeves.
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Thank you so much, Sherry. My sleeves are always rolled up.😊
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This is a wonderful poem Kim. I found myself agreeing with every line. Yes, that’s exactly what we need – feminine consciousness and wise women who can nurture the Earth and all being upon it.
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I’m delighted you like it, Suzanne.
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A huzzah for the Mothers! Not sure what wisdom available for this condemned race will be put to use; I pray to Them to break us wide and far into a receptive humility.
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Cheers Brendan!
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Yes, yes, yes! Let’s call the mothers and the ancient women without child. Let’s call all the daughters.
“Forget the shaman, Chiron and Mentor,
all male, all muscle-bound and bristling
with testosterone. We need a feminine touch:”
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There are enough of us, Susan.
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