• Live audio from Hope at the Center: Poetry Show! Try out the new Audio Player in the sidebar.
• A new page titled “SPEAK OUT!”, which summarizes my community work from 2007 to prevent violence against women.

I look forward to releasing the web pages for Hope at the Center this week!

do the tides
relentlessly hide
some reply
or is there nothing

despite the constant crash
of white walls
quiet covers me
divinely like Yahweh

who came not to Elijah
in fire quake nor wind
but in the sound
of silence

visiting the grave of Sylvia Plath
becoming an optimistic expat
gathering at Weris stones
reflecting now on summers past

grateful for The Light cast
upon the gift of every day
the chance to live graciously
and always the choice to love

for how else may we embrace hands
old and new      hard and soft

how else may we comfort friends
near and far      lost and found

how else may we release pain
receive hope      and love

The young man played an emotional piece “Comptine d’un autre ete: L’apres midi”/ “The Piano: Life is a song” by Yann Tiersen that I recognized by way of the film Amelie, a romantic comedy with a protagonist whose unique view of the world strikes neighbors and coworkers as strange. Amelie navigates isolation with rich imagination, yet still longs for love and healing touch. I found this association poignant as I explored expressions of fellow survivors and allies, pain and promise entwining our stories, lives, and imaginations.

Large canvases conveyed hope amidst tragedy with thick brilliant colors in “Pranayama – Deep Breathing” and “Dandayama Janushirasana – Standing head to knee”, works from a series by Emily Kripitz. Wide brushstrokes of red, blending and bleeding, from Ellie Howe’s “Rape” brought to mind women’s wombs and menses as well as the tearing of sexual violation.

A favorite piece I viewed was the montage “What is your secret?”, inspired by the project PostSecret and arranged by SAPAC’s Networking, Publicity, and Activism Program. Messages hung on a wire background in dialogue with and contrast to one another, such as “I like spring because I like my bare legs” and “Sexual assault affects all”.

Lines of poetry also sparked the exhibit: “sometimes the only thing I can bear to touch/ is words” from “What is love” by Willow Fagan. “A trained advocate/ Couldn’t say a word./ She is my best friend,/ Asking, begging, pleading for anything,/ And I said nothing” from “She said, she said, she said” by Alaina Moreno-Koehler.

*

The young man stopped playing piano before I finished the visit, and in the absence of music a hallow echo rang in my ears. Reflecting on that silence now brings to mind the shame that survivors experience at the fault of others: perpetrators, accomplices who know of assault but take no action, and media professionals who cover assaults yet ignore awareness efforts.

Until late April, I watched my town’s mainstream newspaper The Lansing State Journal cover incidents of sexual violence without addressing current prevention efforts. (The first story I found during the month followed Take Back the Night held April 20.) This irony is rather common in the media, but more painful when it happens during Sexual Assault Awareness Month and after personally contacting LSJ journalists about SAAM-related events (multiple times since March) without one reply. In contrast the City Pulse, The Lookout, and The State News reported on S.A.A.M. for the public; applause to those publishers, editors, and reporters! (See the post “Grateful this April” for links to stories.)

Sexual assault is pervasive; consider recent events in mid-Michigan schools and streets, a decade of abuse by USA male coaches with female swimmers, the likely role of Pope Benedict in protecting pedophiles. The widespread and everyday reality of sexual assault merits media coverage not only about acts of violence but also awareness-raising and prevention efforts. The public deserves to know about services available to survivors, how to respond to violating behaviors, and what survivors have to say.

*

What survivors have to say matters! Closing with this thought, I am sharing a recent poem, which surfaced while thinking about a perspective I’ve encountered more than once: “Some survivors aren’t ready to tell their story.” In placing this comment I can’t recall a survivor ever saying it to me, which is telling. One survivor may deliver their story in a more caustic manner than another, but I propose it is not the survivor at issue but the listener who may be pushed beyond their comfort zone. If a survivor wants to speak they are ready on their own terms, not necessarily those of listeners. I find it important to distinguish whose readiness is in doubt.

ready

some say
some survivors are not ready to speak

really

who dare tells a survivor willing to speak
that she is not ready

the matter is not her words
soft or harsh
sanitized or inflamed
raw or stewed

the matter is who listens
willingly
welcoming
patiently

because
when a survivor speaks
she is ready
to tell her story

the question is
who is ready to hear her
with open ears  supple minds   clear eyes
and souls warmed by compassion

Even more thanks to survivors and allies who made yet another annual national gathering Take Back the Night happen in the Lansing area! Gratitude for help with postering for “Hope at the Center: Poetry Show”:  LaShonda Windham and TBTN organizers; Shari Murgittroyd and volunteers at the MSU Sexual Assault Program; and my event partner the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, especially Senior Program Manager Tammy Lemmer.

And, yes, there are more thanks to give for “Hope at the Center: Poetry Show”! Director Tim Lane at (SCENE) Metrospace for supporting local artists and (SCENE) volunteers Bethanne and Aaron for supporting the event. Friends April and Raquel for helping at the door! Also thanks to Raquel for the wonderful pictures.  Love to writer friends Ashley, Deena, Silvana, and Valerie for make the night special. Gratitude to MCADSV staff for attending after an already very busy day: Tammy Lemmer, Senior Program Manager, and Mary Keefe, Executive Director.

Many thanks to volunteers at and donations for the show: Emily from S.A.C.I. for info tabling, certified interpreter Shayla Riggs and LCC student Sara for signing at the event, Mark Darling for poster design. Of course, thanks to everyone who came! Some of you I don’t know but for those I do:  Becky, Kathleen, Leah, Stephanie. A very special thanks to loved ones for moral support and putting up with me during show preparations: my mother Peggy, my dearest Deena, and my partner Tom, who made the multimedia sizzle.

Thanks to Bonnie Bucqueroux from Lansing Online News for video recording the poem “we are trees” from my new collection Hope at the Center! She visited my info table for Sexual Assault Awareness Month at Lansing Community College on Monday, April 12.

Also many thanks to Leann Schaefer from LCC’s student paper The Lookout for the story “Poetry show offers sexual, domestic violence awareness” (April 12). Leann met me at the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence offices in Okemos a few weeks ago to interview Senior Program Manager  Tammy Lemmer.  Tammy gave us a tour of the facilities, which includes a resource center available to Michigan residents.

My latest collection of poems “Hope at the Center”, to be released in tandem with the show, explores themes of migration and separation through social and personal histories. While wrestling generational wounds the collection seeks healing, a movement from death/darkness/despair to life/light/hope. The show’s image symbolizes this shift with a gerbera daisy emerging from a black background. Many thanks to Mark Darling for donating services for the poster design!

The journey toward hope and healing is basic to humanity on a collective and individual level. This journey parallels my experience as a survivor of sexual and domestic violence:  the process of shaping a life-affirming path through tragedy’s pain, shame, and silence.  So  in anticipation of the show, I invited nonprofits serving survivors of violence to join and get word out about Sexual Assault Awareness Month during April.

My event partner is the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, which will receive half of the show proceeds. I like to describe MCADSV as the spine of local nonprofits offering direct services to survivors. The Coalition works at prevention of sexual and domestic violence at the state level as well as trains local providers. Also coming to the show are representatives from Take Back the Night and the MSU Sexual Assault Program.

Advocates will be at (SCENE) Metrospace when the doors open at 7:00pm, providing a great opportunity to learn about sexual assault prevention, services, and awareness raising efforts in Mid-Michigan. The show starts at 8:00pm with a multimedia performance of my newly released poems. This performance is interpreted for the deaf and hard of hearing thanks to donated services by Shayla Riggs.

If you are unable to be at the show but still wish to contribute, your donation is most welcome!  Please use this PayPal button to make your gift – and know that no amount is too small.

Thanks to donated services and a discount on printing promotional materials from Capital Imaging, expenses for the show round down to $100. After recuperating event expenses, one quarter of the door sales goes to the venue. The remaining amount will be equally divided between MCADSV and I. So online donations are very helpful. The ground tally will be published on my web site as well as blog after the event!