Guest Artist: Ellie Dowdy

Today I want to introduce to you a friend and talented writer/poet.. the beautiful and soulful Ellie Dowdy. She is a Phoenix, rising from the ashes. She is a kind, gentle person who also has Momma Bear strength in defending those she loves. 

© 2010 Dale Fox Photography

She writes from the heart, and uses ripe, powerful imagery to quicken your pulse and leave indelible footprints all over your mind. I am so lucky to know her, that I couldn't resist sharing.


On February 1st, she'll be performing spoken word at Dandelion Communitea Cafe's Diverse Word from 8-10pm. It's in Orlando, click here for directions.


I have to say - it takes guts to pour yourself out on paper and then to share it face to face with an unknown crowd with nothing but your own voice! I'll be there to cheer her on, won't you join us?


While you think about the logistics of getting to Thornton Avenue.. I will leave you with a little of Ellie's poetry:

Remind Me

In the darkest moments of my history

In the time of heartbreak and agony

remind me of what I love.

Remind me that once

she was my baby girl,

a tiny mermaid who

swam beneath my heart

and did somersaults

in that dark water-filled space

that was formed with love.

Remind me of the tender

feeling of her tiny fingers

softly grasping my thumb

and the sound her voice

made as she looked into

my eyes and cooed

in her soft, wee voice.

Remind me of the wave

of love I felt when she

said her first words and

toddled her first steps

from one loving pair

of outstretched arms

and hearts to another.

Remind me of the time

she came to me with her

arms filled with bright orange

tiger lilies - her nose and

cheeks lightly dusted

with the pumpkin-colored pollen.

Remind me of her love of

bangles, bells, and rings,

her funky way of dressing

in colorful swirling skirts

her hair cascading in tendrils

around her face…hair that

changed colors on a whim

from sun-bleached blond

to burnished auburn and finally

black as a moonless night.

Remind me that once

she walked the beach

and looked for shells

and other treasure,

that she danced and twirled

beneath the silver moon

that her eyes sparkled

with inner light like water

wearing diamonds as she

dreamed of swimming

beneath the waves.

Remind me of the times

we sat in the darkened theater

elbows and fingers touching

heads tilted together as we

marveled at the spectacle

being acted out before us.

Remind me of the taste of the

words and ideas we shared

as we tried to extract all the

meaning we could from

what we had just witnessed.

Remind me of her brilliant

words dancing across the

torn piece of paper that she

found to quickly store the

word picture that her mind

had just created and

the way her voice sounded

across the miles when she

would call and say,

“Momma, do you want to

hear a poem I just wrote?”,

as if I would ever say, ‘no’.

Remind me of her thoughtfulness

and her gentle spirit that came

to me as her body lay broken

on the rain-soaked street so

many hundreds of miles from home

her sweet voice telling me for

all time that, ‘it’s okay, Momma,

it’s okay’ - those words that I

would need to hear echo again

and again in the darkness – those

words that I so desperately needed

to believe – that she is okay.

Remind me of the loving energy

I felt as your words came to me

from another place, words that

enabled me to let go of you and

believe that the bond we have

is stronger and the place you

dwell closer than I can imagine -

the loving energy that gave me

the strength to let you go and

to say to you for all time –

“I’m okay, Emily, I’m okay”.

In the darkest moments of my history

In the times of heartbreak and agony

remind me of what I love.

Ellie Dowdy

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