PART ONE: A WOMAN’S POWER

Reader - Emira Chavira Chaparro

Poem One: you are invited by Cleo Wade

you are invited

to

be

to

breathe

to break

free and away

even if only for a

minute

a single breath 

the invitation has arrived

and your name

looks beautiful on it

Reader - Katie Dakan

Poem Two: From Blush by Shefali Dang

She

she is a dreamer 

a deep thinker 

she is a mystery 

a secret keeper 

she loves too much 

she says too little 

she feels too much 

she expects too little 

she is a believer 

a lover 

a healer 

she is a keeper

Reader - Emira Chavira Chaparro

Poem Three: your tides by Cleo Wade

I swam in your tides

for too long

the water were a deep, and dark, 

and at times a very beautiful blue color

they were also temperamental and tiresome

I thought

maybe I’m just not 

trying hard enough

maybe 

I need to learn 

to swim better

time passed me by

and in the midst of my treading 

I wondered: 

what would happen if I stopped

fighting this current?

I put my head back

I let myself float to warmer water

your waves began to fade

and feel unfamiliar 

and slowly, slowly, slowly

I found 

the safety of my own shore

it’s called saving yourself

Reader - Danielle Ramirez

Poem Four: Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size   

But when I start to tell them,

They think I’m telling lies.

I say,

It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,   

The stride of my step,   

The curl of my lips.   

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,   

That’s me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,   

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.   

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.   

I say,

It’s the fire in my eyes,   

And the flash of my teeth,   

The swing in my waist,   

And the joy in my feet.   

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered   

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can’t touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them,   

They say they still can’t see.   

I say,

It’s in the arch of my back,   

The sun of my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

Now you understand

Just why my head’s not bowed.   

I don’t shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.   

When you see me passing,

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It’s in the click of my heels,   

The bend of my hair,   

the palm of my hand,   

The need for my care.   

’Cause I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.

PART TWO: IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIPS

Reader: Danielle Johnson

Poem Five: Mothers by Nikki Giovanni

the last time i was home

to see my mother we kissed

exchanged pleasantries

and unpleasantries pulled a warm   

comforting silence around

us and read separate books

i remember the first time

i consciously saw her

we were living in a three room   

apartment on burns avenue

mommy always sat in the dark

i don’t know how i knew that but she did

that night i stumbled into the kitchen

maybe because i’ve always been

a night person or perhaps because i had wet

the bed

she was sitting on a chair

the room was bathed in moonlight diffused through   

those thousands of panes landlords who rented

to people with children were prone to put in windows   

she may have been smoking but maybe not

her hair was three-quarters her height

which made me a strong believer in the samson myth   

and very black

i’m sure i just hung there by the door

i remember thinking: what a beautiful lady

she was very deliberately waiting

perhaps for my father to come home   

from his night job or maybe for a dream

that had promised to come by   

“come here” she said “i’ll teach you   

a poem: i see the moon

            the moon sees me

            god bless the moon

            and god bless me”   

i taught it to my son

who recited it for her

just to say we must learn   

to bear the pleasures

as we have borne the pains

Reader: Danielle Ramirez 

Poem Six: What My Child Learns of the Sea by Audre Lord

What my child learns of the sea

Of the summer thunder

Of the bewildering riddle that hides at the vortex of spring

She will learn in my twilight

And childlike

Revise every autumn 

What my child learns

As her winters fall out of time

Ripened in my own body

To enter her eyes with first light 

This is why

More than blood,

Or the milk I have given

One day a strange girl will step

To the back of a mirror 

Cutting my ropes

Of sea and thunder and sun.

Of the way she will taste her autumns-

Toast-brittle, or warmer than sleep

And the words she will use for winter

I stand already condemned.

PART THREE: OUR COLLECTIVE PRESENCE

Reader: Danielle Johnson

Poem Seven: We Rise by Amanda Gorman

Today, everyone’s eyes

Are on us as we rise.

Today is the day women

Are paving the way,

Speaking our truth to power.

In this hour, it is our duty

to find the brave beauty

In rooting for other women

So they too know we are not victims,

We are victors, the greatest predictors

of progress. We press for change,

A new dawn drawn into the open

By women whose silence is broken.

We push on and act on

Our responsibility to bring visibility

To the most vulnerable:

To bring freedom to those who didn’t have a choice,

To bring volume to those who are using their voice.

We clear a woman’s way,

We don’t fear the day

She steps into the light

Because we are with her

Every step of the fight.

There’s a lot at stake, but making

A difference always takes great courage.

So we encourage women who dare to stare

Fear square in its face,

Women who’ve always shown

That when one woman stands up

She is never alone.

We know that when she steps up to right a wrong,

She will fight to bring others along

To the network, into the conversation,

Working together to change communities

And nations for generations, our world

Made all the stronger the longer

Women are able to sit at the table.

It is her strength, her story, and her spirit

Which inspires other vital voices

to speak up when they hear it.

So let it be said that light will be shed

When our world is led by leaders ahead

of the headlines, the voices

Who are first on the frontline,

These women who stand up,

knowing the wind

Not by where it is, but where it is blowing,

Leading worlds not by how society is

But where change is going.

We all leap forward when one woman tries,

When she defies with her rallying cries.

Here lies, but does not rest, the best

Of tested women who call us all to rise,

Speaking the truth in this finest hour:

That to their own power,

every single woman is entitled.

But it’s how they empower others

That makes women’s voices so vital.