Reaching out through words & music
Content and Track Samples
1. Picnic, by Susan Crawford, Jim Curlis, and Sharon West
2. Open Me, by MJ Abell, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
3. Solitude, by Sara Phelps, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
4. Blessed Is The Woman-Video, by MJ Abell, Jim Curlis, and Sharon West
5. Ode to the Wordy, by Jean Jay, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
6. For Julie, composed and performed by Jim Luellen
7. Rocking You After Midnight, by MJ Abell, Jim Curlis, and Sharon West
8. Borrowed Copies, by MJ Abell, Jim Curlis, and Sharon West
9. Elaine Tells Me, by MJ Abell, Jim Curlis, and Sharon West
10. Right or Kind?, by Jean Jay, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
11. Prayer for Self-Acceptance, by Linda Farrenkopf, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
12. Amazing Grace, sung by Sara Phelps
13. Fingertips, by Kate McSweeney, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
14. No One Knows, by Jean Jay, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
15. For Love, by Karen Hunley-Pifher, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
16. Wisdom's Waters, by MJ Abell, Jim Curlis, and Sharon West
17. We Are Children, by Karen Hunley-Pifher, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
18. For She Who is Being Tried, by MJ Abell, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
19. I'm Lonely, by Tani Colvin, Jim Curlis, and Sharon West
20. Bittersweet, by Sue Mogan-Mattison, performed by Jim Luellen
21. Letting Go, by Linda Farrenkopf, Jim Curlis, and Sharon West
22. When We Pick Apples, by MJ Abell, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
23. Borne Into the Light, by Sue Mogan-Mattison, Jim Luellen, and Sharon West
24. My Mother's Jumpers, by MJ Abell, Jim Curlis, and Sharon West
25. Wisdom, Radiant Guide, by MJ Abell, Jim Curlis, and Sharon West
26. My Precious Child, by Jean Jay, Jim Curlis, and Sharon West
Thanks to Tom and Reilly Anne Harrington, father and daughter, tickler and tickled on My Precious Child.
My Mother's Jumpers
© 2002 MJ Abell
In her bedroom
my mother sewed jumpers
encircled us with her yellow tape
mended our pants.
We grew up amid doll quilts,
Tammy clothes that matched our own,
ric-rac trim and searches
for her thimble.
Snips of thread ran through our rugs
like lost veins.
While her machine gathered our sleeves into cuffs
traced our middles to make a dress
of a bodice and a skirt,
I lolled on her high bed with the cherry posts,
keeping her company
as the venetian blinds striped the wall,
the stale smells of passion safe
beneath the white chenille spread.
She never told us she loved us
not straight out.
I grew up thinking those were words
for when the bedspread lay folded back-
love for children was assumed
like the cup of water I boiled for my father
as soon as I got up.
How could she know we’d search our childhoods
for a single phrase?
I think about her
when I draw the covers about my son,
practice telling him I love him
while he is too small to know
I am still trying out the phrase
tugging its seams
searching its pockets.
Borne Into the Light
© 2002 Sue Mogan-Mattison
I am beaten down, but still I rise
Out of the earth of which I am part.
I gain strength from unworldly ties,
From the depths of a burdened heart.
Unfettered are my mind and soul,
Flesh and bone don’t cry.
A slave they will not make me
If I decide to fly.
Still I rise to maiden heights
And leave them all behind.
I stand on mountains of mortal ash
And proclaim my peace of mind.
I stand with all the world’s oppressed;
Our union in one, strong.
Our story knows no color;
It knows no joyful song.
Still I rise, and in the end
My life will not be owned.
And peace will lie about me;
My spirit be enthroned.
And I will be the noble queen
Of land that is my soul.
When I am borne into the light
as darkness takes its toll
Address
Columbus, OH
43240
Echoes of the Heart I Design by the Echoes of the Heart Team