…I want to believe the sun
hovered in the lark’s throat before it flew away,
before we saw the white wall rise behind each other’s
eyes, remnant from when we held a howl in our hands
and tried to write the story of forgiveness.
—Cynthia Dewi Oka
praise daily poems in my inbox
how they make me laugh in one stanza,
then break my heart the next
praise how poets hold onto our first loves,
and scent of mama, now gone
praise how we nurture our child self,
gently wrap her around stanzas,
baby girl is resilient
praise our spunk and our sadness,
let our writing heal
The market was a living thing. Its flesh was mounds of mangoes, sweet sop, naseberry, bananas. The steady calls of the higglers, its rapid heart. And those women with heads tied with colorful scarves, and legs splayed wide with skirts cascading between like waterfalls, were its bones.
Writing is what so many of us want to do. Finding the stories we want to tell, and then writing them is what our work together will be. Some of us are beginning. Some of us are continuing. Together we will all be looking for stories, good stories, working together to understand what good stories are, and where they come from.
This 2019 Calendar features the writing of the women who participated in the first Festival of Women Writers in 2013. A thoughtful holiday gift.
What a wonderful weekend we had! View highlights of our sixth great year of celebrating women writers.
“And that is why, every year, there is a season
of sadness, the hurricanes, in Great Water. They begin as
thunderstorms off the west coast of our world
They follow the path of the bones.”
— Alexis DeVeaux
Art at Hobart Festival of Women Writers 2018 In Their Own Words is a SPECIAL exhibition of the work of Catksills women artists at The Hobart Community Center as part of the Hobart Festival of Women Writers 2018, September 7, 8, & 9th. The Hobart Community Center, 80 Cornell Avenue, Hobart, New York. In Their Own Words,…
Hobart Festival of Women Writers 2026 