Limited Edition Release: “To The Mother of All Bowls” chapbook

In coordination with our crowdfund campaign during the month of June, we are releasing a special limited edition chapbook featuring Judy Grahn’s poem “To The Mother of All Bowls” from the collection Love Belongs To Those Who Do The Feeling. Artwork by Teflon Kook.

This special production is only available as a perk to crowdfund donors! 
Everyone who donates at any specified level ($50, $100, $500, . . . ) will receive a limited edition chapbook as a measure of our gratitude to you!

some bowls are cool to the touch
some bowls are full of stew
some bowls don’t hold too much
what kind of bowl are you

though made of porcelain some bowls last tens of centuries
though made of solid gold some bowls change in a flash meltdown
some bowls age in penitentiaries
some begging bowls sit out on the ground
some bowls sing . . .

some bowls get passed around for everyone to drink
some bowls get smashed in the kitchen sink
some bowls stand still in the old bowl museum
some bowls go to every pot luck

some bowls overflow
some bowls suck it up
some bowls clutch ash in the mausoleum
some bowls hold hospital suffering

circling bowls alleviate envy
water bowls consecrate nativity
burning bowls emulate eternity
flower bowls re-create proclivity
red garuthi bowls soak up soak up soak up negativity

some bowls spill out in offering
some bowls transform
some bowls bring about a sea storm
some bowls say bowls witness everything

She loves all bowls
She makes
all bowls break
all bowls return to Her
the Mother of all bowls
dishes up love,
that’s why the love is
unconditional
unconditional love
belongs to bowls.

Footage from Judy Grahn talk & reading @West Hollywood Library October 25, 2018
Sponsored by City of West Hollywood, Red Hen Press, Audre Lorde Health Program @Los Angeles LGBT Center, and WeHo Reads.
© Commonality Institute 2019