The image above is part of a collage by Gina T. Ogorzaly
Welcome to the third edition of Women Raise Our Voices e-zine.
Aloha Readers!
“Your heart knows the way…. Run in that direction.” ~Rumi
February 8, 2024. Today marks six months since fires destroyed the historical town of Lahaina, Maui–over 2,000 homes and buildings–killing 100 people, eight of whom were my neighbors in the senior complex where I made my home. In addition to losing my home and everything inside, neighbors and friends, I also lost my two cats, Cinnamon and Mele. It has been devastating! How to move on through the dark, turbulent waters of grief and loss?
As creator and part of the women’s writing collective that publishes Women Raise Our Voices, I am one of many, these days, making her way through difficult times. We chose “Making Our Way Through Difficult Times” as the theme for our third issue to honor the struggles of so many this winter.
Picking through the ash of my fire demolished apartment
I have struggled to write this introduction, as I wanted it to reflect not only how I’m dealing with having literally escaped a deadly fire with my life, but also what has helped me in my day-to-day recovery process. Although I teach memoir-writing classes and have authored three books, I’ve hardly done any writing because most days my thoughts are so scattered and often interrupted by the intrusive recall of traumatic events from the fire, which suddenly wash over me like a tsunami, and all I can do when this happens is surrender to the reality, while also recognizing that this is what PTSD looks and feels like. To the extent that I’m able, I remind myself to practice positive self-talk: It’s going to be okay… It’s all happening as it’s supposed to… Life is good…You are strong… Make some tea…put on some sacred choral music…breathe…water the two plants you bought.
During these times of re-experiencing the fire trauma and the accompanying overwhelm, I often don’t want to talk with people, even the people who love me and willingly show up for me at a moment’s notice. I’m cognizant that for some of this journey, I must walk alone, and as I do so, learn to lean into my inner spiritual knowing for guidance and strength. It’s called growing your soul.
Just the act of talking is hard. Forget “small talk!” It’s absolutely exhausting and since the extreme experiences of loss and death, it seems like a waste of whatever precious time we are given. Because loss and death lead to deep grief, the “big” questions take front and center. Things like what is the meaning of life; is there anything worth living for anymore; why was my life spared; the world’s a mess but what can I do? It’s all I can do to go to the grocery store and remember to eat, some days.
What has sustained me during this dark time is the loving kindness shown to me by almost everyone who has entered my life! Yes, there have been a few butt-heads throughout all this reckoning with trauma and loss, those few who would complain and spew their ugliness onto anything that resembles beauty, caring and love, but in my world, there aren’t many of those folks. Over and over again, throughout the past six months, people have reached out to give me a helping hand; from literally giving me shelter, food and a place to sleep to clothes, furniture, money, hugs, loving words of encouragement, prayers, a car to replace the one decimated in the fire, to offering me a place to stay to chill for as long as I needed, to new friends who worked for Red Cross and FEMA helping me with the never-ending forms necessary to receive assistance.
Experiencing the loving kindness from others, while also remembering to be kind to myself, has been and continues to be the sustenance needed to swim the dark turbulent waters of recovery with some amount of courage and confidence. What helps most of all is remembering to hold onto the gratitude necessary to get out of bed and go live my life!
Love,
Marjorie
About the Winter Issue
The theme for this issue is Lifting Our Spirits in Chaotic Times. Global hotspots rage on with seemingly no solutions in sight. We hope with the poems, prose, and art of this issue to bring some wisdom and a small measure of respite to our everyday lives and spirits.
Women Raise Our Voices is a fresh online quarterly platform written, edited and illustrated by a revolving collective of nine to thirteen women. It is a place for women, non-binary and female-identified creatives to share their writing and visual art. Our voices matter! Your voice matters! We want to hear your compassionate and authentic stories.
WROV Creator: Marjorie St. Clair; Winter 2024 Co-editors: Rebecca Leeman and Gina T. Ogorzaly; Designer: Denise Weaver Ross; Editor: Andi Penner. Learn more about us by clicking HERE.
Poetry Finalists
A Woman Must Write Her Body by Gayle Lauradunn
In this Season, You Already Know by Andrea Penner
Lessons from My Daily Walk by Gina T. Ogorzaly
On the Other Hand by Anne Harding Woodworth
Parfait by Kitty Jospé
Queendom Come by Mary Pecaut
Soften by Ellen La Penna
The Beast by Janet Ruth
Ways of Breathing by Janet Ruth
We Women Be by Claire Reutter
Woman Ecosystem by Telma Laurentino
Prose Finalists
Hold Up Your Head, Point Your Finger by Andrea Penner
Two café tables away sat an impeccably dressed older gentleman. He wore a gray suit, light shirt and tie, and a soft burnt orange knit beret. His head was bent forward into his left hand, so I could not see his face. With his right hand, he ate his meal one small, slow bite at a time. His posture suggested extreme sadness or overwhelm, but that was probably too much projection on my part, heaping too much world-weariness onto his thin shoulders.
Holding Onto Resilience by Mary Van Pelt
These days I have conversations with myself. Sometimes I think I need to get beyond my own stories of recovery; after all, it’s been more than thirty years since I experienced forced psychiatric treatment in a locked ward. It’s been more than ten years since I wrote a book about job discrimination based on my bipolar disorder. And then, like magic, something happens to remind me that what I do in the world matters.
Life Lessons in Stone Walls by Rebecca Leeman
When I was eight years old, one of my favorite things to do at my grandparents’ house in Vermont was to follow stone walls through the woods. I started out by walking upon them, balancing and falling, engaging the challenge of staying atop like a gymnast. My grandpa told me one day to respect the stone wall and walk beside it because it was old and precious.
The Liminal Space and Time: A Doctor’s Reflections on the Pandemic by Kwan Kew Lai
In February 2020, I took a hiatus from medical practice in Antarctica where only wildlife exists, wildlife and a few lonely, dedicated souls at the research stations when the SAR-CoV-2 virus spread wildly from China to the rest of the world. I was blissfully unaware of the fury of the virus, safe in the cocoon of Antarctica. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the Novel Coronavirus Disease, COVID-19, a pandemic.
Turning the Buzz into a Hum by Rebecca Jo Dakota
It’s like being in the middle of a beehive. All that commotion, movement, noise.
The chaos “out there” in the world these days rattles my “in here.” There’s always been chaos and people have always stressed. But it feels pretty intense now. And it is shared globally, all humans experiencing the turmoil and distress to some degree.
Art Finalists
To learn more about the art and the artist click on the image below.
Woman Climbing into Tree
Photograph by Irene Garden
Everlasting Faith
Photography by Stephanie Morris
Hexagram 21: Biting Through
Mixed media on panel by Denise Weaver Ross
Interbeing
Block print by Telma Laurentino
We Are Loved Even in the Dark
Photography by Rebecca Jo Dakota
Winter Crow
Brush painting by Gina Ogorzaly
Winter Kitchen Corner
by Dairne McLoughlin
The Kitchen Corner is a place to help bring us back to our ROOTS, to the Herbs our Great Grandmothers, Grandmothers, and Mothers used from their collective kitchen wisdom to keep their families healthy and to help heal when we were sick.
Winter is a time of darkness and cold. We want to bring a bit of light and warmth from our kitchens into our bodies to uplift the spirit during these dark days. Let’s begin with a simple and sometimes overlooked friend, that is the humble cup of tea. Nothing says comfort and caring like a warm cup of tea sipped in front of the fire.