Patrice Vecchione

Last summer, after suffering through a months-long debilitating mix of fear and powerlessness that had threatened to topple me over—the result of the actions of the U.S. government that can no longer claim to be “by and for the people”—doing more to stand up, I thought, to counter such reprehensible behavior was necessary. I wanted a way to bring people together to inspire us to use the power of our voices to celebrate the power of creativity and to fuel us to continue making good trouble. So I mulled, but not for too long…

Many years ago, when I was a young woman in Santa Cruz, first in high school and then later, the Women’s Health Center served me in ways that made all the difference. When I needed medical advice, they were there. When I needed an abortion, the center gave me a referral to a doctor who performed the procedure. The Women’s Health Center supported me when I was in profound need of support, when I had little resources and nowhere else to turn.

This organization, now Santa Cruz Community Health, has grown into a larger support service for the county, and no surprise, their funding, due to our current government, is in critical jeopardy.

Recently, Gunpowder Press published the anthology Women in a Golden State: California Poets at 60 and Beyond, edited by Diana Raab and Chryss Yost, which includes the work of many Monterey Peninsula poets. So there, I thought, was a way to create a benefit. Each poet I asked hesitated not a moment before agreeing to participate. Ellen Bass generously agreed to be our headliner. Tonight we are also joined by contributors Donna Becker, Terri Drake, Nancy Fowler, Teri Ketchie, Veronica Kornberg, Jennifer Lagier, Ruth Mota, Dion O’Reilly, and Linda Serrato.

Poetry is itself a community building artform. Read a poem and you find out you’re not alone, there are at least two of you sharing something an intimacy. Even in the darkest dark, a poem can be the light. For this evening, inspiration came from two American poets and an English scholar:

Audre Lorde said, “Your silence will not protect you.” It never has. When we come together and speak truth to power, we discover the power of truth is greater than the lies we are being told, and that has the potential to embolden and to fuel us to do our damnedest to make change.

And this is doubly important for women. As Mary Beard said, “When it comes to silencing women, Western culture has had thousands of years of practice.”

This is not a time for silence. Fascism wins when people are controlled by fear, when we don’t speak up, when we comply and relinquish our power in favor of going along with the bullshit coming at us. Working with wonderful people on this event and knowing we’d come together tonight just like this has helped me to move through the days with greater mental and physical health. I’m reminded of these lines from William Stafford’s “A Ritual to Read to Each Other”:

“If you don’t know the kind of person I am
and I don’t know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.”

Clearly, looking out at you, in the ways that count, we are the same kind of person! Here’s to the Power of Our Voices!