2 Poems For Hell-Raising Women
Tuesday/27 October 2009
Guest
blogger Leslie Davidson offers this:
Hell Raising One
Let us praise the hellraiser
Let us praise the living laser
Of wild eyes and wild songs.
Let us praise her
She’ll break your heart.
It’s an art
She learned and danced
In her mother’s womb
Give her room
Give her room.
Give her room
To kick up her heels
And wiggle her ass
It ain’t sass
It’s truth to cry
I am the boss
Of me!
I will take up my own space
And if you get your face
In the way of my bow and fiddle
Well, honey that’s a riddle
You’ll never solve.
My dance ain’t yours
And I won’t cripple mine
No shooting low
This is MY show
My confusion is a gift
And the storm around me
Ain’t gonna shift
Just ‘cause you say its so
And, honey, I am dancing in this rain
And there ain’t no pain
Can stop me
No in-sti-tu-tion,
And no lie
Big enough
To suck the fun when I’ve begun
To dance or sing or cry.
I am a hell-raiser
And if raise hell
High enough and loud enough
Heaven might just wake up
And join the party
Cause all that sits between
Me and thee
Is judgement.
So raise it up
Raise it up
How loud can you be?
Girl, don’t let anyone
Set you on the straight and narrow
You are no one’s arrow
No one twangs your bow.
The strings of your very own heart
Play your tune.
So raise it up
Raise hell so high
And beautiful and long
Let courage be the flame
In your torch song.
© Leslie Davidson, for The Heart’s Journey, October, 2009
Hellraising Two
Put it out there, child
Put it out there.
Put it out there
And yours might be
The song, the dance, the poetry
The revelry, the history, shared misery
That sets a hurtin’ woman free
Put it out there.
Put it out there
Like the suffragette
Who dared to say
A women’s place
Is where she chooses
Let women also choose
Who rules us
Put it out there.
Put it out there
Like the activist
Who rattles our passivity
Demanding that we look and see
Both the forest and the tree.
It’s a global tragedy
That’s in our face.
It’s no disgrace
To scream our rage
That all we love
And all we nurture
Is doomed to
An uncertain future.
Put it out there.
Hellraisers
Gonna save this world
Put it out there.
Hellraisers
Open wide the shelter’s door
Feed the children
Stop the war.
Put it out there.
Hellraisers
Shake us up
Wake us up
To what is true
And what’s a lie.
There’s just today
There’s no tomorrow
So sing your joy
And sing your sorrow
Laugh your anger
And there will be
A place in this universe
Of rich diversity
A place that needs
The spirit and the energy
Of hell-raisers.
Put it out there!
© Leslie Davidson, for The Heart’s Journey, October,2009
Hell Raising One
Let us praise the hellraiser
Let us praise the living laser
Of wild eyes and wild songs.
Let us praise her
She’ll break your heart.
It’s an art
She learned and danced
In her mother’s womb
Give her room
Give her room.
Give her room
To kick up her heels
And wiggle her ass
It ain’t sass
It’s truth to cry
I am the boss
Of me!
I will take up my own space
And if you get your face
In the way of my bow and fiddle
Well, honey that’s a riddle
You’ll never solve.
My dance ain’t yours
And I won’t cripple mine
No shooting low
This is MY show
My confusion is a gift
And the storm around me
Ain’t gonna shift
Just ‘cause you say its so
And, honey, I am dancing in this rain
And there ain’t no pain
Can stop me
No in-sti-tu-tion,
And no lie
Big enough
To suck the fun when I’ve begun
To dance or sing or cry.
I am a hell-raiser
And if raise hell
High enough and loud enough
Heaven might just wake up
And join the party
Cause all that sits between
Me and thee
Is judgement.
So raise it up
Raise it up
How loud can you be?
Girl, don’t let anyone
Set you on the straight and narrow
You are no one’s arrow
No one twangs your bow.
The strings of your very own heart
Play your tune.
So raise it up
Raise hell so high
And beautiful and long
Let courage be the flame
In your torch song.
© Leslie Davidson, for The Heart’s Journey, October, 2009
Hellraising Two
Put it out there, child
Put it out there.
Put it out there
And yours might be
The song, the dance, the poetry
The revelry, the history, shared misery
That sets a hurtin’ woman free
Put it out there.
Put it out there
Like the suffragette
Who dared to say
A women’s place
Is where she chooses
Let women also choose
Who rules us
Put it out there.
Put it out there
Like the activist
Who rattles our passivity
Demanding that we look and see
Both the forest and the tree.
It’s a global tragedy
That’s in our face.
It’s no disgrace
To scream our rage
That all we love
And all we nurture
Is doomed to
An uncertain future.
Put it out there.
Hellraisers
Gonna save this world
Put it out there.
Hellraisers
Open wide the shelter’s door
Feed the children
Stop the war.
Put it out there.
Hellraisers
Shake us up
Wake us up
To what is true
And what’s a lie.
There’s just today
There’s no tomorrow
So sing your joy
And sing your sorrow
Laugh your anger
And there will be
A place in this universe
Of rich diversity
A place that needs
The spirit and the energy
Of hell-raisers.
Put it out there!
© Leslie Davidson, for The Heart’s Journey, October,2009
