The World Moves on a Woman's Hips

This is my page for the upcoming chunky book swap that I'm participating in at the Art & Soul retreat in Asilomar next month. The theme for the book is Dancing Through the Decades. I love the music from the 1980's - probably because those were my serious formative years (read teenager). This piece is inspired from The Talking Heads' song "The Great Curve", where the chorus goes:
The world moves on a woman's hips
The world moves and it swivels and bops
The world moves on a woman's hips
The world moved and it bounces and hops
A world of light...she's gonna open our eyes up
A world of light...she's gonna open our eyes up

Here's the back of my page:

I think the words say a lot, both literally and figuratively. As a woman, I can feel the world moving on my hips, emerging, turning, bouncing, and hopping. There's a lot of energy there, and as a woman, it's our job to know how to open everyone else's eyes up.

Catch Me

Catch Me
by Tally Oliveau

You might catch me
pricking the musical notes
that glimmer before me
in the air.
With my knowing hands,
plucking
the gossamer strands
of stories never to unfold
but in the far reaches
of my smile.

And you might catch me
running free through the fields
gathering raindrops in a
storm.
All the while listening
to their
quiet melody
twinkling and shining
in the sunlight.

Yes, you might catch me
composing
and dreaming
of the music that lies before
me,
floating
and waiting
to be sung.
Just waiting for my hands
to kiss
their gossamer strands
so that their life
may fill my soul
with love.

The Ties That Bind Us

On this first night of Passover (yes, tonight!), it's a good time to think about the ties that bind us.

If you didn't already know, Passover celebrates the story of the Jews' exodus from Egypt and leaving their lives as slaves behind them. While life as a slave was probably horrific, I can only imagine how dificult it must have been to leave behind the only life they had known, to follow Moses into the desert looking for a homeland that they didn't know how to find.

Despite their fears, the Jews did it. They escaped the ties that bound them. They escaped slavery.

But what still enslaves us today? I don't just mean the Jews, I mean any one of us. Some of us are enslaved by our jobs, some of us are enslaved by society's expectations, some of us are enslaved by our obsessions and addictions, and some of us are even enslaved by fashion.

What are the steps we can each take in our own lives to escape the ties that bind us? Can we blow those heavy burdens from our hands, allowing them to fly away - giving us freedom?

Give It To Me!

Here's one of the many reasons I love Madonna. Below are the lyrics to "Give It To Me" a song on her new album "Hard Candy", which I have been working out to lately. It is these kinds of attitudes that bring us to the top of our game. Yes, truly.

You can see the video here. I'm not sure about the value of the video itself, but at least you can hear the song. _Edit: Oh - wait - I want those boots!

Give it To Me
By: Madonna, P. Williams

What are you waiting for?
Nobody’s gonna show you how.
Why work for someone else
to do what you can do right now?
Got no boundries and no limits.
If there’s excitement,
put me in it.
If it’s against the law,
arrest me.
If you can handle it,
undress me.

Don’t stop me now
Don’t need to catch my breath,
I can go on and on and on.
When the lights go down
And there’s no one left
I can go on and on and on.

Give it to me!
Yah!
No one’s gonna show me how.
Give it to me!
Yah!
No one’s gonna stop me now.

They say that a good thing never lasts
and that it has to fall.
Those are the people that did not
amount to much at all.
Give me the base line,
I’ll shake it.
Give me a record
and I’ll break it.
There’s no beginning
and no ending.
Give me a chance to go
And I’ll take it.

Don’t stop me now
Don’t need to catch my breath,
I can go on and on and on.
When the lights go down
And there’s no one left
I can go on and on and on.

Give it to me!
Yah!
No one’s gonna show me how.
Give it to me!
Yah!
No one’s gonna stop me now.

Repeat Chorus

You’re only here to win
Get what they say
You’re only here to win
Get what they do
They’d do it too,
if they were you.
You’ve done it all before.
This ain’t nothin’ new.

Repeat Chorus