My dear Suzi over at Laundry Line Divine
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 08:33PM It occurs to me that I have been horribly remiss in linking to my beloved friend Suzi Banks Baum, light behind the blog Laundry Line Divine and now the fantastic revolution called Out of the Mouths of Babes.
I wish you could meet her. She is one seriously passionate woman. Her blog's tagline is "seeing and celebrating the sacred in daily life," and boy, does she inspire me with exactly how artfully she does this. She is a writer, an artist, an organizer, a pleasure revolutionary -- oh yes, and she is a mother and wife, which provide the unique lens through which she organizes much of her work.
And as you would imagine with all of this inner glow, she is wildly beautiful on the outside, too.
Here she is in September at the restaurant Home.
This woman is one of my nearest and dearest. For almost four years, we have talked on the phone every week to spring clean (one of Mama Gena's tools -- I'll explain in another post). We have shared our hearts with each other through joy, birth, death, and everything in between, and she has been gently patient with me this past year as I adjusted to being a new mom and my time went haywire. I treasure her friendship and am over the moon with pride about her new project.
Suzi is in the midst of launching a reading series called "Out of the Mouths of Babes: An Evening of Mothers Reading to Others." The first event is on March 2nd at 7:00 p.m. and is part of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers. Be there early so you don't miss the lullaby that opens the evening.
“No mother is lacking in creativity,” says Banks Baum. “Whether she stays at home with her children, or works outside of the home while someone else looks after her kids, she is using major creative muscles to make it all work. My desire is to provide women with a vehicle to discuss the importance of creativity in their daily lives; to witness the beauty of words written by other mothers; and to emerge from this event inspired to celebrate and engage with their own creativity.”
If you are anywhere in the northeast, I urge you to get yourself to her neck of the woods for this event. There will be bedtime snacks served; pajamas are optional.
This post is being written tonight because I was in the middle of savoring a Mary Oliver poem that she posted when I realized that I have never linked our two online worlds. So here we go, for all 3 of my readers. Please go spend some time in her backyard. Hang a garment or two on her line. You will feel better because of it.
Here is the first stanza of the poem she posted. You'll have to go to her site to read the rest.
To Begin with, the Sweet Grass
1.
Will the hungry ox stand in the field and not eat
of the sweet grass?
Will the owl bite off its own wings?
Will the lark forget to lift its body in the air or
forget to sing?
Will the rivers run upstream?
Behold, I say – behold
the reliability and the finery and the teachings
of this gritty earth gift.
Reader Comments (2)
Tears are very good assistants for beholding.
Speaking from experience.
You are the blessing here.
And the event starts at 7:00.
Just don’t want anyone to miss the lullaby that opens the show.
xoxoxo Thank you for sharing this JGLe.
All my love, S
Thank you! I have changed the time! I'm glad you caught that! <3 <3