Episode Title:
Aurora Levins Morales' Summons: A Call to Action for Peace, Collective Resistance, and Choosing to Stand in the Gap
Episode Description:
In this episode of Midweek Pause for Peace, host Laura Davis shares Aurora Levins Morales' powerful poem that serves as both dream vision and urgent call to action. Through carefully selected imagery paired with this rallying cry for peacemakers, Laura explores how ordinary people must step into the work of peace when governments and leaders fail. This episode offers support for anyone feeling called to action, seeking poetry that mobilizes rather than pacifies, or looking for language that transforms grief and despair into collective purpose.
What Laura Covers in This Episode:
How the dream of ten thousand grandmothers from twelve hundred corners of the earth creates a vision of collective action when peacekeepers aren't boarding planes and leaders refuse to say every life is precious
Why the poet insists we cannot wait for governments and positions us—ordinary people with bandages and guavas—as the ones who must cup our hands around each heart and stand between bullets and flesh
The transformative power of singing the earth's song so beautifully that vengeance turns to weeping, mourners embrace, and grief replaces every impulse toward harm
How this poem functions as a literal summons—"Wake up. Put on your shoes"—inviting readers to meet at the corner with whatever gifts they bring and begin the work of building peace together
About Host Laura Davis:
Laura Davis is an acclaimed author and writing teacher with over 35 years of experience helping writers craft powerful, authentic stories. She is the author of seven books, including the award-winning memoir "The Burning Light of Two Stars," which won the BookLife Prize in 2021. Laura is also co-author of the groundbreaking book "The Courage to Heal."
Through her Midweek Pause for Peace podcast series, Laura pairs carefully selected poetry with peaceful imagery to support listeners' emotional wellness and nervous system regulation.
Each week, host Laura Davis pairs beautiful imagery with meaningful poetry, offering listeners a respite for both heart and nervous system. These midweek pauses provide essential moments of reflection, healing, and inspiration in our complex world.
Perfect for: Anyone seeking Laura Davis' signature blend of poetry and peace, those managing stress and anxiety, and listeners who appreciate thoughtful, heart-centered content.
About the Featured Poet:
Aurora Levins Morales is a cuir Ashkenazi Boricua writer of poetry, essays, and fiction. A child of blacklisted communist parents, she grew up immersed in social justice movements and the poetry of liberation, and came into public voice as part of the collective eruptions of radical art of the 1970s and '80s. She is the author of nine books, including Medicine Stories, Kindling, Remedios, and Silt. Her poetry is widely used in synagogues and churches, in schools and at rallies, painted on walls and recited at weddings, translated into seven languages and reprinted in dozens of anthologies. She lives at Finca la Lluvia, an agro-poetry project in the western mountains of Boriken, also known as Puerto Rico. "Summons" was published in her collection Rimonim.
Connect with Aurora Levins Morales: Support Aurora on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/auroralevinsmorales and visit her website: www.auroralevinsmorales.com
Connect with Laura Davis:
Join Laura's Community: Subscribe to Laura Davis' Midweek Pause for Peace series for consistent, nurturing content that honors both your need for beauty and your nervous system's need for calm.
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