Focus on Women: Women on the Move

Back to Focus on Women: Women on the Move page

WNC Luminary - "Glenis Redmond: Lifting Up Women"

Va Boyle

Part of a series. Read the rest of the series here.

Sitting by this woman who exudes energy, power, thoughtfulness, caring and the intent to live out her dream is a plum powerful place to sit. Glenis Redmond is a performing poet, but more than that she is a poet who in-spires others to touch and utter--express those inner feelings that have been sunk out of sight. Being in the very presence of this poet I am inspired to the poetic as I write this article of appreciation and admiration of her. You know it takes a lot of nerve to do this with a woman who does this thing so very well. This is a woman who walks the talk, knows where she is going, knows what she is about and invests profusely in her mission and her path. Her beingness is awesome—this woman of fire whose message shines from every molecule of her being.

Well, now that I have waxed as much as I know to do, it is time tell you about Glenis, this woman of eloquent words, thoughts and images. She paints vivid pictures with poetry and tells stories of women that haven’t been told. This is her destiny, her job, she says. These stories come from her own life experience and the lives of women she knows or has known about. When she acts these stories out, which she does at her poetry readings, hold on to your seat, because she will draw you into the experience so strongly you al-most become the person(s) she is depicting; you FEEL what they feel, their urges become yours, their burdens weigh on you and their celebrations vi-brate through you.

Glenis was a military kid who grew up with no predictable place to call home. She was the fourth of five children; and while she was the baby girl she noted that she felt like the elder. Moving from place to place with her par-ents, since her father was in the Air Force, was difficult; but she learned to meet people easily and she learned to become part of a group. Besides be-ing a military man for twenty-one years her father was also a musician, playing many musical instruments along with family and friends. As part of the musical gatherings her parents would hold, Glenis began to dance at a young age and says that actually dance is her first love, her prayer to God. She talks about incorporating dance into her movements during her per-formances.

Glenis began writing poetry at the age of twelve. She feels about poetry as she does dance—it is her love, second only to dance, and it is her gift to God. She describes herself as a self-taught poet. Inspiration for her poetry comes from her maternal lineage. She states, “My maternal line is my Mom, Jeanette Redmond, who is my rock and guru; my grandmother, Katie Lati-more, 106 years old and still drawing breath; my great great aunt Racheal who I never met but feel her presence around me daily; my Aunt Dot, who recently passed away; she was full of fire, healthy rebellion and compas-sion.” She draws strength from the women in that lineage, women who are all doers. Many of her stories contain references to these women and things they have done and experienced. Her writing inspirations come from many directions including Maya Angelou, Lucille Clifton, Alice Walker, Nikki Gio-vanni, Louise Erdrich, Sandra Cisneros and others too numerous to name here.

As a young woman she became educated to be a counselor. She was en-rolled in a doctoral program in psychology when she became physically ill and realized that her soul was spiritually unfulfilled. During her illness she wrote and wrote; poetry emerged , though not intentionally. It was poetry, she says, that led her through this time of crises in her life. She was mar-ried with two babies at the time. The experience made her realize that she had not gone inward enough, and the writing helped her listen closely to the earthly realities that would sustain her and allow her to walk gently in the world.

Glenis sees herself as a heart-fueled poet, a poet from her soul. She is trying to give to young people in a way that helps them find a deeper place in their lives. She tries to empower people to write poetry because she has seen how it can help one get to a deeper place inwardly; it can open doors for you and give you courage to go deeply into places you think too frightening to venture.

She has found for herself that fear had kept her from doing what she wanted to do—a fear of the “ghosts” that hover over and kept her from moving past them. In fact she found that her fears became very small when she finally faced them. She said that her wish for people, particularly young people, is that they find the “you” in themselves and it often is more beautiful than they imagined; as she says, “you can’t walk into life apologizing for who you are.” Because she recognizes that many troubled youth are hiding from themselves behind troubled living, the message she conveys is: “I see you, I accept you in your beauty”. She is eager to talk to disadvantaged youth be-cause as a young person who hid from herself, she sees herself in every one of these young people. She often visits youth who are incarcerated, who are in orphanages, who are in group homes and who are in school.

Glenis has two daughters who just graduated from high school this spring. Because of her work she is gone six months out of a year. She feels very fortunate to have a wonderfully supportive network, especially her ex-husband’s mother who comes to stay with her daughters when she is gone. She has a fierce bond with her daughters and when on the road she doesn’t “leave” her daughters but stays in daily contact with them. She sees herself working to support the family. Although their life is unconventional she feels like she would rather have her daughters see her doing something she en-joys rather than dragging to a job she cares little about and just tries to cope well enough to get through each day. She feels that a sense of worth and an enjoyment of one’s life is a gift she is giving to them. She sees her-self as a parent by proxy.

In talking about her performance style and skills, Glenis laughs and says that she is not sure they were learned. She has always been full of attitude, sassiness, expression and dramatics, she says. She also describes herself as being a spiritual seeker, a believer in people’s soul potential.

Glenis sees the way of women as circles and spirals. She is a “womanist” who wants people, women, men, young people, to be in touch with their feminine side, not in a gender sense but in a softer, less judgmental sense; she stated “It doesn’t always have to be about competition, being better than, winning, or superior to other people”.

While Glenis did not say this, I do believe the message she gave me was that being feminine is not about being without power, it is about the power of acceptance of self and others, knowing the inner “you”, putting the “you” out there through sharing your real stories, and facing your fears. What a gift this is to us all.

You can find Glenis’ work and schedule at www.glenisredmond.com. For booking call 800-476-6240