for the Founding Five of GCC Gender and Women’s Studies
One woman walking toward a rising sun,
taking in more sights and sounds of earth,
opening to new sensations free from fear
Five women reaching toward a whole new world,
when equity in arts and science, in living
fully every day is possible
Thousands marching toward a planet that allows
full trees to grow, that inhale / exhale every
peaceful breath
Millions pondering what lives they’ll lead, not only how
each moon will rise, but how each breeze
will blow, billowing sails beneath their feet.
Growing up in a Chicago suburb, Joanne McNeil Hayes wrote poems about midwestern life before moving to Vermont. Her poems are published in ENOUGH, Crosswinds, and Valley and Beyond. She has two collections: We begin in fragrant fields and Riding Out the Risk: Poet and Painter in Conversation.