Lisel Mueller opens her poem “The Laughter of Women” with this stanza;

The laughter of women sets fire

to the Halls of Injustice

and the false evidence burns

to a beautiful white lightness.

Kamala Harris has lit the torch. The ancient goddesses within us are stirring, rejoicing.

Patriarchal religions invented misogyny thousands of years ago to disempower us, but our much older instincts and the personifications of our power endured; hidden, restless, but always aware of the injustices perpetrated upon us and all the unfortunate of both genders.

Sometime ago I wrote a letter to the Recorder about my favorite, Baubo, a so-called minor figure in Greek mythology. She is the embodiment of a sensual, self-contained, raunchy, and irreverent woman. She laughs at life’s absurdities, indeed guffaws; she delights in her own personhood. She represents a power women contain that is too often forced to lie dormant but she is always present, breathing courage and candor into our souls.

Article continues after...

Yesterday's Most Read Articles

Bittersweet Bakery & Cafe temporarily closed as owner evaluates future plans

Montague resident named new Northfield EMS chief

Hilltown Hair Salon moves to former Bon Salon space in Shelburne Falls

Deerfield posts job seeking new town admin, with Dunne taking on interim role

Todd Dodge officially sworn in as Greenfield police chief

My Turn: Empowering tomorrow’s innovators — Advancing gender, racial diversity and leadership in STEM

Your Daily Puzzles

Cross|Word

Flipart

Typeshift

SpellTower

Really Bad Chess

Let us hear her in ourselves whenever Kamala laughs, especially at the absurdities Donald Trump mindlessly tosses out at her and at all of us.

Mueller’s last stanza reads:

What a language it is, the laughter of women

high-flying and subversive.

Long before law and scripture

we heard the laughter, we understood freedom.

Margot Fleck

Northfield