How to burn a woman - by
You will not need kindling.
I think I’ll go up quick
as summer timber, my anger
big and dry as a plantation
that dreams of being paper:
women
BJ 581 in Birka - by
Was she then a lover,
a wife, a sister, cousin, aunt?
Was she laid there in jest,
as a punishment, as an example?
The Shepherdess - by
The staves steady under foot; she knows which to
avoid. A creature of habit, the kettle warms.
Earthstruck - by
Becoming used to his stare, she turned
her own gaze back to the depth of soil
before bedrock, that one boggy corner,
the tricky curves and angles of slopes
Juárez/Ecapatec - by
I was looking, in vain, for the newspaper article
that told our story among the deluge of pages
on the thousands of women of similar fates.
Stobhill - by
Yes, I agreed to perform the abortion.
The girl was under unusual strain.
Nostra Culpa - by
We knew, this thing at least we knew, – the worth
Of life: this was our secret learned at birth.
An Old Woman Cooking Eggs - by
That’s me in the painting.
/ My face smooth and brow clear,
/ for I do not worry over
/ what I cannot see.
To Margaret on a Monday - by
I saw you from my window, Margaret.
/ I was watching the seagulls swooping the sky.
/ The seagulls, I was telling myself, know
/ today…
In Memoriam 1971 - by
Certain women. And some young boys.
/ Women with some uncertainties
/ but something they knew about
/ that made them need to say something.
/ Two of…
Spartaca - by
we stand together, each one a Spartaca
no longer silent or alone: each voice stronger,
massing, alive, a wild murmuration
Buddy, Can You Spare a Rhyme? - by
Buddy can you spare a rhyme, the time, / a line for Paisley?…