Michele Show by the Exhibitionist at Art Windsor Essex, Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Michele front left of Michele Odalisque by Judy Chappus, Artist

 

Michele Show by the Exhibitionist at Art Windsor Essex (AWE)

Windsor, Ontario, Canada (April 16 to Oct 25, 2026)

Michele Birch-Conery was born Margorie Ann Conery on Aug 3, 1939 in Vancouver, BC on the feast day of St. Lydia who made her living dyeing, spinning and selling rare, expensive purple cloth. 

A visionary, mystic and social activist for women's equality in the Roman Catholic Church, Michele's life embodied threads of the sacred and profane. Her life spun around charisms of writing, storytelling, advocacy for women, prayer, service and teaching - a nurse, nun, university Women's Studies and English literature professor, musician, poet and, in her final years, an ordained bishop. 

Michele was conceived in rape by Rose who was 13 years old. She went into foster care and later was adopted at age six. Her adopted parents taught her to play the violin and piano; however, they isolated her from peers and after school activities. The father sexually abused Michele until she was 12 years old when she reported the abuse to authorities. She was sent to boarding school under the care of women religious who were her teachers, protectors and mentors. There she flourished in academics, music and stirred up trouble and fun with her peers.  In her early adult years, Michele became a nun with the religious order Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.  

Until she died at 81 years of age and especially throughout her childhood, Michele was plagued with cyclic vomiting syndrome, an incapacitating aliment known as an abdominal migraine. She was constantly under the duress of financial stress, medical marginalization and mental health challenges, used alcohol to assuage the pain. Nonetheless, Michele's passion for life and resilience led her to embrace countless, spirit-filled adventures. 

In her early forties, Michele reunited with her birth mother and lived with Rose and Rose's husband for several years. She never married or had children. 

In 2004, decades after she left religious life, Michele was ordained as the first Canadian Roman Catholic priest, an elicit ordination made legal by the presence of one ordaining bishop in good standing with Rome. She moved to Windsor in 2014 and established the Heart of Compassion International Faith Community, along with several progressive Roman Catholic local women. 

Michele was consecrated a bishop with the international Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARWCP) in 2015. Her devotion to this sacred calling was total. There were multiple, complex challenges and opportunities that animated her well-honed life experience and gifts, and drew upon her life of prayer and contemplation. 

As a dual citizen, Michele was keenly political and a consummate diplomat. She cared deeply about the pastoral and personal development of women candidates in preparation for ordination, often hosting them for weekends in her upper apartment and talking with them deep into the early hours. Her love of liturgy and her creative use of language merged in worship celebrations that were inclusive, feminist, ecological and evolutionary. Michele also had a wild imagination and a robust sense of humour. 

In 2019, and a year before she died, Michele modeled with the Exhibitionist. After several, severe bouts of cyclic vomiting syndrome and at 94 pounds, she gave her naked, withered flesh and bones to be rendered in images: one final act of justice to counter misogyny and patriarchy. Michele laid down the purple cloth of her ailing and aging body for women elders who are often deemed irrelevant and whose bodies are seen as disgusting. 

Moved by her courage and life story, the Exhibitionists have captured Michele's power and beauty through their art-making and a recording of Michele reading two of her arresting poems, Exile and Reunion. The Michele Show is at Art Windsor Essex from April 16 to Oct 25, 2026 on the 3rd floor.

Free access to Michele's memoir, Birdwoman: Memoir of a Migrant Mystic is available at People's Catholic Seminary, 

https://pcseminary.teachable.com/p/pcs-712-birdwoman-memoir-of-a-migrant-mystic

Written by Barbara Billey, close companion

What If? by Ezzenntahh

 

 Breakfast Club Photography by Ezzenntahh

What if?

What if it is this side of the pane

 that is closer to making sense?

What if it is actually even

 nuttier on the other side?

Ezzenntahh 7.4.26

Embarrassment by Wendy Piercy

 

Embarrassment! 

I’m rushing out the front door late for a fashion show dressed in my finest suit, nylons and heels. I suddenly think “Wait! Did I put the keys in my purse?” knowing in my heart I probably didn’t. Frantically, I check my purse which contains every conceivable item one would need in an emergency - bandaids, scissors, EpiPen (fish allergy), aspirin, lipstick (!) - except house keys!

I review my options - I have to get into the house to retrieve the keys but the only possibility I can think of is to climb the Monterey Cypress tree adjacent to the house and jump onto the bedroom balcony where I can gain access through the balcony door. Simple. I reckon I’m fit enough to do this. I just have to remove my precious clothing including nylons leaving me in my bra and panties - not a pretty sight but I am not worried about that as our house is very private.

 Accessing the tree is easy from the rocks which surround it and I feel quite confident initially as I scale the first and second branches of the tree and my goal seems very achievable. I am pumped with adrenaline. I can do this! That is until I reach the level of the balcony and I realize that I will have to hop over a 3-foot gap! I am suddenly very aware of how high I am and recognize that, if I missed the jump, I would fall at least 40 feet to the rocks below. I am no longer feeling confident; panic is replacing bravado and my adrenalin high has been replaced by fear. I am afraid to jump and I’m afraid to retrace my steps for fear of falling.

Suddenly I hear someone working in the property next door and hope replaces fear. It is a young man doing some painting for my neighbour. I yell “Help!” a few times and am rewarded with “Where are you?” I try to explain my dilemma and entreat him to not laugh and definitely not look!

Thankfully he does neither as he helps me climb down the tree and then climbs back up with enthusiastic ease, hops over the balcony and into the house like a professional burglar. Moments later he opens the front for me and blushingly shrugs off my enthusiastic thanks.

A week later I am attending a financial planning meeting downtown when I spot this same young man in the room. He makes his way through the crowd to me and says, “Hi - I didn’t recognize you with your clothes on!”  

Embarrassing?!!

Wendy Piercy

After-Life: Scaling a Curve by Barbara Billey

After-Life: Scaling a Curve

Let me tell you what I really want. 

I want the people whom I love that have died to come back. 

Today is Holy Thursday in the Christian tradition where Jesus washes the feet of his disciples before he's scourged and hung on a cross on Good Friday. (I'm not convinced this is a good day for Jesus.) On Easter morning, Jesus is walking in the garden and appears to Mary Magdalene. He's risen from the dead!

I know we're supposed to believe in an after-life. Christian "believers" are usually confident they have their ticket to heaven, and will be re-joined with relatives and friends. Some people believe we will be absorbed into another level (higher?) of consciousness, enlightened souls who have shed the coil of their mortal bodies. What about those who believe we are one with nature, dying and rising again with the cycles of life?  Others believe our beloveds are with us as spirits or stars, ancestors to whom we can turn for guidance. 

I want my ancestors who have died, especially Mom and Dad, to come back. I want them to call me on the phone, to visit for tea or a meal, to laugh with me again, to gossip, to kiss and hug me, even to get angry with me. 

I want to make up for all the words or actions that I regret. I want to share with them how the vagaries of life have humbled me: "I get you were traumatized, too." I want to be with them as the person who knows what I now know. To tell them how much I love them and how beautiful they are - everyday. 

I want their life to go on beside mine, rather than visitations of them in memories or dreams, both difficult and lovely.  A good friend shared that he once did a meditation to connect with his parents. They told him, "We're doing fine. Now, leave us alone." 

Dad appeared to me in a dream two days before the second anniversary of his death on Good Friday, March 29, 2024. In the dream, I was in a living room with family and friends. Dad laid dead on the couch. No one noticed. I shouted, "Dad's dead!" Dad sat up and opened his eyes. I was scared awake. He would have thought that he was being funny. 

I don't want people I love who are alive to die. I don't want them to leave. Ever. 

I tell myself a myriad of things to assuage the hole of loss. Mostly, I land in the belief that love and loss are complicated.

"Every beginning 

is only a sequel, after all,

and the book of events

is always open halfway through.1"

Each day feels like I'm riding a motorcycle. On easier days, I'm gliding across the open prairie on a warm, sunny day. On other days, I'm on a slippery mountain road driving way too fast and heading toward a curve. The road is taking me into uncertainty. I'm curious and terrified. 

I'm not sure where I will arrive after my tour on this planet. What do you believe?

Barbara Billey 02 Apr 2026

1. "Love at First Sight" by Wislawa Szmborska, 1996

Remembrance of Rain by Barbara Billey

remembrance of rain

rain gives permission to listen

as wetness blankets mother earth

drowns out rushing street noise

even birds fall silent.

lightening zigs zags across the sky

reminds me to hide inside

like i did when Dad's thunder

erupted as anger.

i like to walk outside in my red overcoat

get my salty winter shoes washed when

i cross the glistening pavement.

soft Spring rain removes dust from 

my cluttered, painful memories

reminds me why I love my life.

when a rainbow arrives

i remember Dad's smile

the varied colours of his moods 

vanishing into a giggle.

i remember riding my blue bicycle

through the thick puddles against

the curb of my childhood home

my legs tucked up from the whoosh

of water free to be me.

Barbara Billey 31 Mar 26

Rusty Hinge by Barbara Billey

 Rusty Hinge Barbara Billey, Photographer

Rusty Hinge

dew   illusive this Spring morning

even as first buds arrive on the magnolia

a hint of lime green sprouting in the garden

shy from the shiver of steel sky cold.

i go outside anyway ----- escape the cloister

in a midnight blue parka

my head encased in a neon green toque

hands wrapped in hot pink mittens.

I can walk and breathe //// feel brisk 

slap my cheeks

movement from the rusty hinge 

of my aging body praying

mantis on the horizon of warmth to come.

Barbara Billey 25 Mar 26

The Garden by Arthur Onion

 The Onion of Heaven and Earth

Arthur Onion, Artist

t     h    e        g     a     r     d     e     n

we live in a thin slice near the outer skin of the onion

our universe is this bubble zone

we could explore it for a very  very

very long time

before getting to know the onion itself

let alone

the  s o i u l 

it

 grows in.

by:  Arthur Onion

Morning Prayer by Barbara Billey

 Earth Mama Patricia St. Louis, csj, Artist

Morning Prayer

When light drops into a woman's body

she knows this familiar grace.

When every hard edge

of life digs in like

the top of tight socks into flesh she

remembers light will return

as softness caressing one breast close 

to where the heart lives 

as warmth, wet rising low beneath her navel

as a kiss eager, unrelenting

drawing her into lightness beyond

 the long, lost night. 

Barbara Billey (23 Mar 26)

Juicy by Ezzenntahh

 

Uhane Hoa by Ezzenntahh

 

A New Plan for the U.S.A. by Arthur Onion

 

Inaugural Address

                        A New Plan for the United States of America

                                                              by                                                               President Grace Brown

                                    Swearing in Ceremony                                                                         Jan 20, 2029                     

                                 

The grievous lessons learned through generations of war have inspired the citizens of these United States of America to express their will and their desire for a new way forward.

The results of the recent election have given this Government and this President a clear mandate and the responsibility to bring forth a new plan, one that honors the needs of our people and of our global community. A plan rooted in mutual trust and respect, one that mitigates the tragedy of rampant division and hatred.

This plan is called M. U. S. T.  Make U.S. Trustworthy.

As your President, I announce the dissolution of all branches of the military, the cancellation of the military budget and all military contracts. 

The belief that larger, stronger and more expensive military in our country or any country leads to peace has reached an inevitable conclusion. It has been a complete failure.

The military budget in the United States for 2026 was 900 billion dollars. Worldwide spending on military is in excess of 2 trillion, 600 billion dollars. This expense has been explained as necessary for “defense.” Defense against what? Fear. There are better ways!

All that is required to end this continual spiral of fear, distrust and waste of valuable resources is for one country to “stand down.”  We are that country!

This Government’s position is that the full amount of our country’s military spending be re-directed for the needs of our citizens, as well as for those in other countries who may require assistance.

To this end, I order 2/3 of our military budget, that is, 600 billion dollars annually be redirected to areas of education, infrastructure, ecological protection, health care and human services, scientific research and the arts.

A new Federal Government department is being created to determine the priorities of the people of our nation for the purpose of directing funds in the most effective manner. We will utilize Artificial Intelligence programs to assist in the swift and efficient implementation of this plan.

The Department of Defense currently owns 50,000 square miles of land within the United States. This Government will return approximately 50% of this land to Indigenous Americans with the remainder being repurposed for nature preserves and parks, agriculture, as well as providing for emergency needs of immigrant populations.

Active service men and women of all U.S. military branches may apply, at no cost, for re-training in the fields of their interest and expertise. They will be tasked with helping implement this plan both locally and abroad. Initially, we will place special emphasis on the safe dismantling and recycling of our vast inventory of weaponry, helping with veteran programs and rebuilding in areas decimated by the effects of years of war.

Internationally our new plan will be presented as H. E. L. P.  Help Every Land Prosper.

Beginning immediately, 1/3 of the military budget, that is, 300 billion dollars annually will be available for our international neighbors who are willing to follow our lead by cancelling and redirecting their military budgets. Our funds will be available as interest free loans to be used for programs they deem most beneficial for their citizens. Countries need only repay their loans to ensure access to further assistance.

I will close with the words of President Dwight Eisenhower in his Farewell Address to the Nation in 1961, 65 years ago:

“We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.”

Thank You. 

President Grace Brown

Written by Arthur Onion (March 15, 2026)

Email:  arthuronion11@gmail.com

Action as an Antidote to Doomscrolling Anxiety

Church of My Youth by Barbara Billey

 

Cartoon by Ezzenntahh

Church of My Youth

I giggled in every Mass.

Fr. Joe with his hippie hair 

cobalt blue sweatpants peeking out 

from the bottom of his white alb

his announcement of the bishop's 

latest edict or appeal for money to get 

the guys through seminary

spoken with a hint of sarcasm.

(He cared about poor people in the West end, not that.)

I was into the music

the choir in the sanctuary strumming

on their guitars, our bodies swaying

singing my heart out, Dad's sweet tenor voice.

The massive wooden cross high

on the wall behind the altar scared me.

Jesus with thorns piercing his scalp, his blood seeping 

from a gash in his side, nails in his hands and feet

His serious business of dying for my sins. 

What had I done wrong that he had to suffer?

Jesus was my friend who reminded me, "You're okay, kid."

When I heard the story about Jesus turning water 

into wine at the wedding feast at Cana 

I imagined I was there. It was so cool!

Everyone vivacious - a little drunk

filled with the spirit of a resurrection giggle. 

Barbara Billey (07 Mar 26)

Litany of Wild Women by Barbara Billey

Litany of Wild Women

Great-Great Grandmothers Rose, Emilie, Mary Ann

Great Grandmothers Filiane, Ethel, Annie

Grandmothers Cecile, Alice

Mother JoAnn 

God Mother Geraldine. 

You

with generous bodies and crazy hats

coupled to silent men who kept secret

their hearts in favour of agility

in their trials of oppressions.

You

with passions and purposes

dropping seeds of wisdom like polyphonic sound

into the Earth of my body

cheering me on through stumbles into fluid grace –

remarkable imperfections.

You

are in Flow now, flying on Hawk’s wings

hanging out in one bursting nest

over drinks with Shekinah and Sheila Na Gig

under the bright ball of the Super Moon. 

I 

lay prostrate before you my beloveds

with gratitude for blessing me with 

your fortitude and serious fun.

Pray with us, all you Wild Women.

Barbara Billey, 07 Feb 2021 (Revised 22 May 2024)

Hawk Sounds

You Got to Run (Spirit of the Wind)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5zb0WTSLsY

You Got To Run (Spirit of the Wind)

Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tanya Tagaq

Whether you're woman or whether you're man
Sometimes you got to take a stand
Just because you think you can
You got to run
You got to run

Whether you're woman or whether you're man
Sometimes you got to take a stand
Just because you think you can
You got to run
You got to run

Trying against the odds you're in a trance
Say who did you think you are to have a chance?
You're a no one from a place
Where everyone knows your face
The come and go way they know the sun
So you better hang on and hey you better run
'Cause here's your chance and your race has begun

Down in a hole
You feel like two different people in your soul
Feel like a loser until you see that as you bend
You learn to be your own best friend
And you learn how and you learn when
To take a chance on the spirit of the wind

Whether you're woman or whether you're man
Sometimes you got to take a stand
Just because you think you can
You got to run
You got to run

Babe ain't we been down
We've been so broke and been so low that I kissed the ground
But you can see yourself a winner
Beyond the money and the greed
Beyond the pride is a pure untested need
And to be a champion is more than luck and speed
It's power and freedom in the spirit of the wind

Whether you're woman or whether you're man
Sometimes you got to take a stand
Just because you know you can
You got to run
You got to run

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Buffy Sainte-Marie / Ian Fern Campeau / Thomas Ehren / Timothy Hill Craig

You Got To Run (Spirit of the Wind) lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

 

Birdwoman by Michele Birch-Conery

Penelope

Judy Chappus, artist

 

Birdwoman

1.

I hear you everywhere, diva

of the long note held

into improvisation. Virtuoso

of contained response,

self-possession, of the lyric

of wise action, your recitative

moves me deeper than memory.

In my silence, thin as the cuticle 

of the waxing moon, Firebird, 

you raise me, again and again, from the ashes 

my spent lives. Your patience 

is beyond reach, Pheonix, 

heart of my being. 

2. 

You are Hawk, Eagle, Raven. 

Where spruce thins to tundra 

you are Arctic Tern. 

Cormorant, Shearwater, Great 

Blue, your shadow seeks 

my shadow, your spirit 

mine. Feather 

on the breath of God 

you are Hildegard, 

Mechtilde, Catherine. 

Brigit of the sacred waters, 

Triple Goddess, I come

from your well restored.

by Michele Birch-Conery