The Universal Mother

I wrote these poems in my youth. The title poem from which all the subsequent ones flowed I wrote at age 21 in 1979 except for one I wrote at age 14. The former I wrote after having danced alone in the nude in my bedroom to Pat Metheny's song, "The Search," in a mood of utter exaltation from which the poem just welled up from my depths. I believe I have fulfilled the promise of this poem in my everyday life over the years since then. Almost each one of these poems has a particular inspiration peculiar to it, e.g., "The Dance," was inspired by a phone call I made to a mime company I had seen perform to enquire about me possibly taking classes with them, while, "The Dream," explains a dream that explained a situation that led to a fulfilling yet tumultuous love affair with its subject, etc., etc., on and on! I took some of my inspiration from Kahlil Gibran and Hermann Hesse whose works I was reading then and still am. I have been recording my dreams in one form or another since the age of about four and have become somewhat adept at analysis of mine and others' dreams over the more than 50-year period since, though dream analysis is still a tricky and mysterious process. I have published more than 15 volumes of my dream journals to date, which I called, after Sigmund Freud's blockbuster, The Interpretation of Dreams, because I think that my accomplishments along those lines are as singular as his were in his day, especially as a black woman. I don't know any other black woman who has accomplished the same or even really similar. Also, I chose Freud's book's moniker because I thought I'd sell more books that way; perhaps people might mistake my book for his ;)! I've had many more singular accomplishments and plan to have many more yet! I think like the redoubtable, Audre Lorde, that the way I've chosen to live my life and my work will live beyond my lifetime. The last accomplishment of mine that I will mention here is my church, which as yet has no members except myself but which is unlike any other formed in all of recorded history to my knowledge. (Even Buddhism and Christianity took time to catch on!) Please see details at: www.freechurchofthedivinemarriage.yolasite.com "Poetry helps to heal the poet and reveal the truth to all those who read the poetry."Bernie Siegel, MD author of 365 Prescriptions for the Soul and Love, Animals & Miracles.