Lisbeth White is a poet/dancer/performer and VONA alum. She works as an expressive arts therapist, supporting people in discovering the arts as healing. Her current poetry project centers around ancestry and the unique relationships women of color experience in connection to nature.

Daughter

everything distilled
to the honesty of the body
face hands mouth eyes
skin half the color
of enslavement
half the color of cruelty
cannot waste movement
heart humming
its chambers
shivering ache
& ancient tongues
lips closed
except to kiss
except to pray
jaw bound
mouth rounded
the stone weighted tongue
of secrets hers
secrets not hers
stories have found their homes
in her mouth
in her skin
in her hands
hands in flight
hands a channel
hands simple fists
skin half holy
skin half blasphemous
lips closed
except to sing
heart humming bones
of the inner ear
heart humming mirror
ear to trembling hand
ear to cupped lips
if she cannot hear
the hum of your heart
she cannot love you
ear to earth
skin half clay
half cloud
face ajar
eyes threadbare
eyes patient as a hunter
eyes flooded every day
with the sea
ear to the shoreline
feet in shallow water
feet faulting cliffs
feet naked & reveling
wild but not a girl gone
wild like nature
wild like a night
walking forest
wild like breath caught
on a horizon of birds
intention in the breath
honesty of the body
everything distilled
from birth to death
not a movement
wasted
she can only live
close to her heart
its humming chambers
shiver stories homeward
mouth like a circle
always she stands to pray
skin soft dust
eyes open sky
feet in the crossroads
hands in water
lips closed
except to smile
generous & often
as a new day