I have grown to love winter. It is a time of being home and laying low. A time of making soup and catching up on my ironing. A time of long, indulgent hot baths and slow starting mornings in bed with a cup of tea and a good book.

During February I will be sharing articles about Domestic Queens, Introverted Queens, Privacy Seeking Queens, Self-Loving Queens, and Literary Queens. And as always, I ask you to please share your stories on these themes.

 

The Garlic Lady in February

By Crescent Dragonwagon

I am the garlic lady, six

Pressed cloves on my spaghetti, and

Those bulbs as raw as myself on

This blustery day

Which I shall spend at home, entertaining myself. I find my jokes

Enormously funny, and I know

About herbs and botannicals, too.

Take the pungent healing tuber

I love to chew: it’s allium,

An errant member of the lily family

And you’d sweat it through your pores

If you wore it in your shoe.

For just today I’ve ten good books

And wood and food and fire. Only

Sleet and gust are welcome guests;

Who’d dare drive this windy way, to knock

At my steamy kitchen, who would Intrude? I am the red-wine one-woman

Gypsy-coven, and I dance

And dance and dance

My smell is strong and my taste

Is strong and you say

I am wild, yet never begin

To see me dance and dance and dance.

Now if you should see me walking the town

If you dare, watch for my eyes;

They’ll catch you like a dime in the sidewalk.

Put this meeting in your pocket; now add

Your chili fingers. Now, now,

Though you may not see me again ’til April,

Your hands are warm for the rest of the winter.

*****

Donna Henes is the author of The Queen of My Self: Stepping into Sovereignty in Midlife. She is the Midlife Midwife™ offering counseling and upbeat, practical and ceremonial guidance for individual women and groups who want to enjoy the fruits of an enriching, influential, purposeful, passionate, and powerful maturity. Consult the MIDLIFE MIDWIFE™

The Queen welcomes questions concerning all issues of interest to women in their mature years. Send your inquiries to thequeenofmyself@aol.com.