Powa Moves #3: Posts from #teamgirlpowa

This is the third edition of Powa Moves, our English-language curation post boosting some of the great writing and art posted under the #teamgirlpowa tag. We love the awesome feminist and women-centered work y’all produce—thank you!

Today is also Mother’s Day for many of us. For others, this is a hard day. Some people have toxic or strained relationships with their mothers. Some people have only chosen mothers in their lives. Remember: you owe nothing to those who would force you to smother yourself for scraps of their affection. We honor you and your chosen mothers, and the love you have chosen to give them, and the love they have chosen to give you.

Some people have lost beloved mothers in one way or another, to illness or accidents. We see you, too, and we love you, and we love your mothers, despite the fact they are beyond your reach now. We honor them alongside you, and we honor your heartache, and we honor the beauty they gave us in bringing you into the world and raising you up.

In the words of Audre Lorde:

"The strongest lesson I can teach my son is the same lesson I teach my daughter: how to be who he wishes to be for himself. And the best way I can do this is to be who I am and hope that he will learn from this not how to be me, which is not possible, but how to be himself. And this means how to move to that voice from within himself, rather than to those raucous, persuasive, or threatening voices from outside, pressuring him to be what the world wants him to be."

Being a mother is hard work, and today we want to honor that. But here's @teamgirlpowa's spin on things: that work matters most when it is done with love—real, honest, compassionate love; whether blood ties exist in that relationship is immaterial. So, today we honor chosen mothers and birth mothers alike. Happy Mother’s Day! 💐

Speaking My Own Truth - Day 118 - Daily Haiku - and some Questions for Empaths and Lightworkers by @crescendoofpeace
As the title says, this post is a haiku followed by some discussion about being an empath. The questions are perhaps also an invitation to honor one’s own needs in a world that can be hard to exist in. This post feels very timely today.

Trying To Be Gentle With Myself by @trucklife-family
This is an important reflection on putting other’s needs first, and how that reflex might be interrupted by consciously recognizing and honoring one’s own needs. It’s lovely and necessary.

Landscape painting -watercolor- by @ehabfox
Wow! This is a wonderful piece of art: a home with a brilliant night sky behind it—gorgeous. Click through to check it out, it’s totally worth it.

Feminism Sunday: Male Feminist Predators by @didic
As usual, @didic brings an important topic for discussion. Today’s post is about men who use public feminist acts to cover up shady and violent behavior in private. This is a big problem that feminist communities all over suffer from, and something we need to talk about. Let’s get into it!

Chaotic Control by @sumayyahsaidso
This poem is intense and darkly funny and important. @sumayyahsaidso is a brilliant poet (and a good mama), and this piece out of her archives speaks back to the world in a vital way. Check out these words of fire and show her some love!

Confused Writer by @tezmel
A fun reflection on the urge to write, the flow of creativity and inspiration that many writers are familiar with. @tezmel talks about the different personas of “a storyteller, a poet, and a feminist blended with an erotica writer,” and wonders how to bring them together in one person. Give it a read.

That’s it for this post! Please check out all the lovely writing above, and drop in on our Discord server to chat with us. We are excited to meet you, and to support your work. Why not take a look at our latest Spanish language curation post? And be sure to post your work under the #teamgirlpowa tag to catch our eye! ❤️

Support @teamgirlpowa

We are working to build our Steemit account and Discord community. If you want to help @teamgirlpowa grow our community, support our wonderful artists, and keep bringing you rad content by, for, and about women on the blockchain, you can donate STEEM, delegate SP, or follow our curation trail.

If you would like to delegate to @teamgirlpowa, you can do so by clicking the following links: 10 SP, 20 SP, 50 SP, 100 SP. If you prefer to set your own amount, just visit this link, enter your Steemit name in the top box, teamgirlpowa in the second box, and enter the amount of SP to delegate in the third box.

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“I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood…for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence.” – Audre Lorde

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Post created by @tessaragabrielle