Siobhan Bedford Artist

SIOBHAN BEDFORD FINE ART

Harmonics Poem & Silver Linings Paintings

Siobhan BedfordComment

In my circle of woman…there are three that have put themselves into the world as a podcast.

They call it “3 Crones” and say they are grown-ass women weaving tales and telling the truth. They chat over whatever has been nudging at their hearts while navigating tech challenges.

They always laugh loud, on occassion drop the f-bomb and dare to read poetry out loud. I like to think for me;)

In an episode that tried to bring some light to the heartbreak in Ukraine, Virginia McKinnie read her poem “Harmonics” in her beautiful southern accent.

It’s a stunning poem she wrote in the time of another war. There is a line “we will all drink peace” that just struck me. Oh…I felt if we could only stir up a peace potion for the broken corners of our world! I imagine its main ingredients must be poetry and art and music and all the things that keep us human…when others fail to be.

So I’m sharing here the poetess Virginia McKinnie’s full poem “Harmonics” along with these “Silver Linings” paintings that are a peaceful blending of color with iridescent details.

Read out loud if you dare & share!

May we all drink peace.

Silver Linings: Wonder

Harmonics

From the voices of women
I hear the cry for peace
to spare
our husbands and sons and brothers and fathers –
and even now our baby girls and other sisters and mothers –
whose talk and smiles and kisses open our world.

From the voices of women
come the songs that lullaby
the guns and clenched fist into
palm up gesture of open heart.

From the voices of women
comes the call to gather
together arm in arm against arms
to hold each other as we chant and weep.
Our children have died too soon.
They are the slaughtered pathway of industry
And politics. Their blood oils the machines,
Powers the presses and stuffs the ballot boxes.
But no more.

The voices of women are a crescendo
Sounding and chanting and urging
And singing the truth like oceans
And rivers and waters of the world.
— VH McKinnie, 2.28.03

Silver Linings: Delight

We will all drink peace. It will rise
Like vaporous heat and spread like thunder
And wash the deserts in a deluge
Of joy. We women will circle
Like ponds and lakes and puddles.
We will gather in shining ovals of noon,
Going pink like dawn and still at dusk.
We will spill cool sips of peace into parched throats
So others can sing and trill
how sweet the taste of pleasure
And how holding each other feels
like being babies new again.

— VH McKinnie, 2.28.03

Silver Linings: Wish

The voices of women are shaking
The ears and heads of senators and chairmen
And even other women hiding
In the shadows and dry places:
Flow with us we croon. We are a ground swell,
A rising tide and a cresting wave
And a natural power falling forward into itself
Giving itself over to its own momentum

To say:
We desire
Peace first,
then understanding,
Then love,
Then
more peace.

It is a holy cycle we would like to try.
— VH McKinnie, 2.28.03

Silver Linings: Swoon

You can follow Virginia McKinnie http:/instagram.com/virginiamckinnie

Listen to 3 Crones Podcast at the link below…I think she reads her poem in Episode 6!