Let this month of purification free us of despair. Let the spirit of creation move freely within us.
Let there be courage to call down joy. Let the heart’s dreams be silent no more. Let it be so. 

Book of Genesis 

Suppose there was a book full of only the word,
let – from whose clipped sound all things begin: fir
and firmament, feather, the first whale – and suppose 

we could scroll through its pages every day
to find and pronounce a Let meant only for us –
we would stumble through the streets with open books, 

eyes crossed from too much reading; we would speak
in auto-rhyme, the world would echo itself – and still
we’d continue in rounds, saying let and let and let 

until even silent dreams had been allowed.

By Kei Miller, from There Is an Anger That Moves

Note: The word February is derived from the Latin, februum, meaning to purify. Februus, an ancient god of purifications, was worshipped by the Romans and Etruscans. The Etruscans also worshipped as the god of the underworld.

Image Credit: Harmonia Rosales, version of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam.

About this Artist:
“Rosales draws on the energy of living life as a woman of color and society’s objectification of that identity. Yet her subjects embody something within us all as they serve as conduits to an inner struggle within our society, which she depicts through metaphorical crowns and deities. The primary purpose of her art is and will always be to encourage sympathy, empathy, and empowerment.”