I’ll sing with my bare soles
flat to the spare wooden floor
old words will show their shapes
to my warm, tender mouth
the minute motes of untended
places rise in mute praise
my cool dark hair floats loose
ghostly insubordinate strands
blessed notes exult scored hands
salute all budless boughs
rainy ruts in muddy roads
hail to witches waifs & widows
hail to mothers’ midnight vigils
hummed hymns bedside carols
singing smiths my memory light, light
light & lilting as the crownless
Grace Covill-Grennan is a carpenter and poet living in Portland, OR. She received a BA in psychology from Reed College. Her poetry has appeared in Timshel Magazine, Utterance Journal, and Haptic. As a writer, she deals with themes of femme experience, family trauma & relationships, memory, embodiment. In her spare time, she enjoys anarcha-feminist political organizing with a focus on anti-rape/abuse support and education work.
Art: holding space, digital illustration, 2019
Artist Statement: This poem immediately brought to mind this illustration, as they both celebrate and honor the strength and magic of the feminine spirit — the idea of selflessness not as a lifestyle but rather as a gift.