Monday, January 31, 2011

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
© 2010  All rights reserved.  




5 comments:

  1. Great post! I love this wonderful writer, mother, love warrior, soul sister, friend!

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  2. Wow. That is powerful. I felt an instant wave of grief wash over me. Now I feel really sad!!! What an amzing artist. How lucky you are to know her Tory...

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  3. She is a powerful writer. I think we can all relate to loss and to remembering love, though. What I like about her poetry is it is all from her truth. Her personal experiences. I was given permission to post this one.. but there are others. They are beautiful, they grip you. Not all sad, either! Thanks for the feedback.

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  4. We are so lucky to have Elle in our life

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  5. We are, Anne-Marie! Her talent and story needs to be shared, she's an inspiration.

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