Every Thanksgiving I like to read a poem at the dinner table that has me thinking about the zeitgeist of the time or about the season or about family or the concept of gratitude. You get the picture.
This year, I have chosen to read a poem by Margie Piercy, The Sabbath of Mutual Respect.
The poem begins:
Abundance, Habondia, food for the winter,
too much now and survival later. After
the plant bears, it dies into seed.
The blowing grasses nourish us, wheat
and corn and rye, millet and rice, oat
and barley and buckwheat, all the servicable
grasses of the pasture that the cow grazes,
the lamb, the horse, the goat; the grasses
that quicken into meat and cheese and milk,
the humble necessary mute vegetable bees,
the armies of the grasses waving their
golden banners of ripe seed.”
There are many names for the Goddess of Abundance. In this poem, Piercy calls her Habondia. She is also Mother Earth, Demeter, Ceres, and Gaia. Piercy praises the role Earth and of woman. “Praise our choices, sisters, for each doorway / open to us was taken by / squads of fighting / women who paid years of trouble and struggle.”
I chose this poem because of the drastic changes that we as humans are undergoing with regards to technology, social paradigm shifts and political policy. I chose this poem because of the drastic storm that hit the East Coast, Superstorm Sandy, and all of the questions this raises on how and where we live. What does this mean for Earth’s own transformation? I chose this poem because after the recent election we now have more women U.S. senators than ever before! It is a poem that speaks of plentitude, contentment and equanimity.
I praise the Earth this Thanksgiving that I have the opportunity to celebrate with friends and family by eating together. Like most American holidays and the American Dream, it means something a little different to everyone. This year, I chose to celebrate women the world over and give thanks for being born in America with all of our abundant freedoms.
“Doorways are sacred to women for we
are the doorways of life and we must choose
what comes in and what goes out. Freedom
is our real abundance.”
