talisman

in the pocket of her heart
the woman carries
these words: and this too.
a string of words like
tiny powerful charms
that the fingers
of her most present self
keep smooth in the way
the fingers of her hand
might caress a string
of greek worry beads.
the awareness
embedded in the words
grounds her practice
of seeking beauty and joy,
shining light where
there might otherwise
be darkness—in times of distress,
in times of chaos, in times of turmoil.
but also shining light
as a way of being.
today,
in a time of tension,
the words call her attention
to a deep radiant knowing
that beyond the clouds
and beyond the rain that fell
day after day this week,
the sun whose warmth
the woman cannot feel on her skin
or in her hair,
and the full moon
she misses this month
from her earthbound position
beneath the cloud cover,
have not left their orbits
nor their celestial certainty.
they have never once abandoned her.
as her heart beats,
it pulses her mantra:
and this too—
this sun,
this moon,
their beauty,
her joy.

—dotty seiter

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Notes about poem and art:
• I see “talisman” and You Don’t Have to Knock as reverse-pinch expanded versions of “i caress the pearl” and The Hatches, LOL!