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Life on the Deckle Edge

Poetry Friday: A few timely lines by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

 

 

Our amazing Jama has a thoughtful, pull-no-punches Poetry Friday Roundup post on the eve of the midterm elections. This week, I'm taking a cue from the host post and sharing a few compatible verses! 

 

Here are the last few stanzas of a poem called "We as Women" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935).

 

From: SUFFRAGE SONGS and VERSES

by CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN
THE CHARLTON COMPANY, 1911

 

...

 

We, that were born of one mother,
And reared in the self-same place,
In the school and the church together,
We of one blood, one race!

 

Now then, all forward together!
But remember, every one,
That 'tis not by feminine innocence
The work of the world is done.

 

The world needs strength and courage,
And wisdom to help and feed–
When, "We, as women" bring these to man,
We shall lift the world indeed.

 

 

(You can read the whole poem here.)

 

I also found a great quote of hers appropriate for All Saints Day, Dia de los Muertos, etc.:

 

"Death? Why this fuss about death? Use your imagination, try to visualize a world without death! Death is the essential condition of life, not an evil."

 

And another which might tie all of this together:

 

"Eternity is not something that begins after you're dead. It is going on all the time. We are in it now."

 

Learn more about the author here.

 

Thanks to Jama for hosting, and for inspiring me to look to the past for some present-moment inspiration!

 

(PS - Several really devastating environmental reports have come out this week, about how fast species are vanishing and about the impacts of climate change.  If you've had it with humans - understandable - go cast a vote for the planet!)

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