Ordinary Woman

 

Evil baffles me
Not because it is alien to me
– no evil is –
But because for each
Weakness, perversion,
I fight in myself
There marches
An army of fools
That has turned them
Into their creed

I am an ordinary woman
Not someone who takes on the world
But this is my spur

That though sometimes hidden
There is equal in number
A band of saints
Those who perfected
My good dispositions
Their sphere starting
Right next to me
So that if I move
Only one step
In their direction
For any cause
We can tip the scales

 

 

 

 

 

 

In my poems I explore ideas of memory, faith and commitment. My poems have appeared in print in Lost Country and Time of Singing and online in Calvary Cross, Crux Literary Journal, Fib Review, Ground: Poetry of Faith and Doubt, Hedgerow, Literary Yard, One sentence poems, Open Mouse, PILGRIM, poetry24, and verbatim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recently had the pleasure of collaborating with the composer Hans-Jürgen Gerung. He wrote the music and I the lyrics for "Gegenüber", a work for two cellos and reciter. The underlying theme was non-violence and inaction as action.

 

 

 

 

 

In 2018 I won the first place in the Landschreiber literary competition in the category poetry. Reflecting on the different places where I have lived, I wrote a poem about how every person develops their own language along their life's journey.