NOVENAS

A lot has been going on in my world recently, including a big move (just one town over, but a grueling and rewarding experience all the same). Since it will be a while before I have a working studio, I chose to write novena/prayer/poems for each of the seven assemblage pieces that I will be showing at Trash Lamb Gallery in San Diego in a show called ‘Novenas,’ opening this Saturday, Sept 10, 2022. Colleena Hake and Sara Jane are showing as well. If you are in the area, join us for the opening from 7-10pm!

I wanted to share the poems/prayers with you. Each piece comes with a framed poem, as an offering. I let the piece guide me with my writing. Maybe someday I’ll put them into a little book!

Hope you all are living well.

Guardian Angel

Oh holy apparition

Of spirit and flesh

All rusted edges and shining gold

The glitter of jewels and the starkness of bones

May you guide me toward the beauty of truth

May you protect me from the mirage of enchantment

Where there is only smoke and mirrors

May you stand by me while I stumble and fall

May you watch me rise, once again

And stand in the warm glow of bloodstains smeared on the sun

Wrapped in your golden arms

Of bone and ether

∞

And I’ll Be Waiting Here For You With Open Arms

A novena for the one who taught me the word

Grandma

A budding rose upon your heart

Soft pink innocence 

Opens the arms of mercy

Giving way to hands never idle

Crocheting hearts to infinity

Surrounded by the bones of wishes

Laid out to dry

Mother Mary leads the way

Nature is religion (repeat 9x)

Scent of Emeraude and Lark smoke

The call of an owl made of yarn

Singing ‘Summertime’ through Queen Anne’s lace

Bless this tender ghost

∞

Saint Cecilia

Warrior goddess of sight and sound

Be bold

Armored saint in red lace

Discern

May you turn chaos to cadence

May you transform turmoil to tempo

May you make malady become melody

May you transmute hurt to harmony

May you elevate with your sensorial magic

Organ pipes liberating a thousand muffled screams

Hold space for the cries

Hold space for the songs

Hold space for the healing that defies medicine

Hold space for us all

∞

Bloodletting

Flow forth, sweet scarlet nectar

Let it bleed

Tell us about the time you drank from the rocky chalice of the river’s edge

Remind us of skies torn open wide, thunder roaring placid tales of the aeons

Show us the gnarled roots you’ve nourished, deep beneath the earth’s crust, giving rise to emerald castles

Extinguish the hungry flames that tickle the steely cauldron of consumption

Let it bleed

Crimson excreta

Emptiness is godliness

∞

Tree of Life

Oh hallowed tree of the ages

Sustained by rot and decay

Noble limbs offering solace

Bestow upon us your blessed fruits

Pure essence of healing

Shine upon us your sacred white light

Bring order to the chaos born of fear

May the blood and tears that anoint your roots

Spark the seed of life force within us all

So that we may bear witness 

To the divine beauty that you (we) have yet to become

∞

Houses of the Holy

Gleaming cathedral

For saints and sinners of the flesh

Built upon skeletons of souls

Whose lives were lived to the fullest

Or snuffed out too soon

Their remains lie below

Bearing the weight of sacred geometry

Built by hand and divinity

Reaching up to the cosmos

Oh, sanctified space

Womb of the heavens, behind a jeweled facade

Let us revel in your embrace

Let us sing for the ages

Let our tears flow freely and wash us clean

Let love and laughter heal what ails us

Let us come unto you

∞

Sacred Wound

Torn flesh

Paves the road to nirvana

A chink in the armor encasing our soul reveals

Ruby rivers, studded with crystal

Bone marrow, spirit sparrow

Floating high above the rush

Of the crimson tide

All ye who enter here

Abandon longing

Abandon fear

Abandon desire

Transcend the pain of a thousand tiny pricks

From the jagged needle of betrayal

Of body/mind/spirit

All ye who enter here

Are home

∞