defiance Archives - The Dewdrop

Uncategorized

Alice Walker – Be Nobody’s Darling

May 6, 2020December 29, 2020 Vanessa Able

In an echo of the defiance of Wendell Berry's 'Do Not Be Ashamed', Alice Walker draws up the image of an outcast to underline the importance of tenaciousness and standing one's ground in the midst of madness.

Like Silt in a Flowing Stream – May Sarton on Solitude and Clutter
May Sarton's Journal of a Solitude is the upshot of a journey into herself, into simplification and self-examination.
E.E. Cummings – Let It Go—The
E.E. Cummings reflects on the necessity of clearing, of letting go of the things we cling to, in order to make way for love.
Normal Days – A Tribute to the Ordinary From the Far Edge of Life
After a glioblastoma diagnosis, Tallu Schuyler Quinn wrote about what dying meant to her body, mind and heart in this series of moving essays.
In the Name of the Stranger – Pádraig Ó Tuama on the Language of The Troubles
Poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama reflects on the use of the word 'trouble' in Irish language, and its relationship to grief and mourning.
The Most Real and Creative Form of Human Presence: John O’Donohue on Soul Friendship
Ancient Celtic tradition upheld soul-friendships and the potential for inner growth that they teased out.

Carol Barrett – Esther Talks to Her Unborn Child
Poet Carol Barrett's poem is spoken in the voice of biblical Queen Esther, from the Tanakh or Old Testament Book of Esther.
Guadalupe Salgado Partida – Nearing Heaven
Guadalupe Salgado Partida, with her poem "Nearing Heaven", tilts our eyes skyward, just as the eyes of the poem's narrator when she asks her father about God.
Laura Johnson – To the Daughter I Never Had
Iowa poet Laura Johnson's "To the Daughter I Never Had" is a heart-rending work of what could have been, of loss, absence, and missed opportunities.
Gina Ferrara – Along Its Course
New Orleans poet Gina Ferrara writes a poem of awareness, inevitability, permanence, and nature, the lines of which are gathered around the shores of a sluggish river.
Anya Smith – Mountain Messaged Erotica
Anya Smith's three-part sequence poem, "Mountain Messaged Erotica", is narrative rife with outdoorsy rustic goodness and passion.