While I adore my husband \/ I must proclaim \/ my first and longest love \/ for the women in my life. \/ The confidants who preceded him \/ the comrades who will outlive him. \/ The girls who invented and created \/ and imagined worlds with me \/ in the family room \/\u00a0 in the mulch \/ in the woods \/ on the playgrounds \/ in the playrooms. \/ To those young bold-hearted teens who dreamt with me \/ Who drove their first miles with me \/ with tender acceleration \/ and ten and two hands \/ and right – left – right glances \/ who painted vivid plans \/ for our collective future.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To those sisters and siblings \/ who challenged me \/ championed me \/ expanded my worldviews \/ opened doors to cultures \/ and faiths \/ and family dynamics \/ and mindsets \/ and ways of being. Those who nourished me \/ with stunning insights \/ over bowls of Lucky Charms or stir-fry \/ with their brilliance \/ and their charming turn of tongue \/ cracking high-brow jokes \/ in the corners of a dining hall \/ or trekking down paths \/ to a distant lecture hall. To those more senior students \/ who lit the way \/ Who held high \/ the Lanterns of Truth \/ the light of Meaning \/ the hope of Wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the ones who showed me that I mattered \/ not as a foil \/ not as how I can serve a man. \/ Those who educated me \/ in self love \/ Who believed me \/ Who held me in heartbreak \/ Who ushered me through healing \/ Who hyped me in pursuing audacious ambition \/ Who sped-walked with me over hills and hassles\/ Who wept with me when our world reveals her limitations on checking the untamed cruelties of men. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To my female kin and kindred friends \/ I love you \/ with a fierceness \/ that reflects \/ the shimmering strength \/ of your convictions \/ the depth of your anger \/ the breadth of your souls \/ the length of your wisdom \/ that no formula can fully calculate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To my elders \/ Our Mothers \/ Our Grandmothers and Grand Meres \/ Our Great Great ancestors \/ Those who carved a path of possibility \/ Who set the tone of what not to tolerate, to cast off and grow through \/ Who had bigger hopes for us \/ Than they could live themselves \/ Those who shattered many ceilings but not all \/ Those who left more for us \/ to take up ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To my peers who independently cycle with me through rage and raucous laughter \/ undulating sine and cosine \/ emotive DNA helices \/ always tangoing \/ yet never crashing \/ each a wave cresting on their own moon\u2019s pull \/such that at any time there is both cheer and crisis \/ chaos and clarity. \/ To those queens who remind me to feel it all \/ to absorb the power and gather the pain \/ To those who with me raise hands aloft as we revel in the beauty of this life.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To those who huddle together with me under a shared chenille throw on sofas with warm pets and cold beverages \/as we reel \/ in the horrors \/ of the latest news. \/ To our daughters \/ our children \/ and the generations we will never meet \/ may you feel this throbbing love \/ for your well being and progress. \/ To those we never met or will meet \/ yet to whom we are \/ karmically woven in fate.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To the women \/ who will join me \/ in our elder commune \/ and grow gardens \/ and craft art \/ and dance on the cobblestones \/ in the shared courtyard \/ of our sunlight estate \/ in Southern Europe \/ where men can visit \/ but never stay.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a love letter \/to the realest deepest \/ loves of my life. Thank you women. \/ Happy Galentine\u2019s Day \/to my Truest Loves. \/ You are magic \/ embodied \/ Long may you Love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cGalentine,\u201d a love letter to Women. Written February 13, poem 044 in a series of 365 poems written by Diana Ludwick in 2026. Photo, “Box of Hearts,” by Diana Ludwick (c) 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[38,120,122,124,96,119,56,123,121,70,71],"class_list":["post-477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-poetry-challenge","category-poems","tag-community","tag-friendships","tag-galentines","tag-hope","tag-intergenerational","tag-love","tag-mother-daughter-dynamics","tag-self-love","tag-valentines","tag-women","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=477"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":481,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477\/revisions\/481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dianaludwick.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}