Salt stiffened, her wings don’t lift
except pinwheeling feathers
caught helter-skelter by sea breeze,
sun bleached and lichen lined.
Watches for the hands rising,
faces breaking among shallows,
hope and desperation.
She sings for them.
Caged in her cove, she sings.
Why do that to yourself?
Play around with perfection,
even if it was only skin deep,
and the smoothness of these curves
turned your stomach at night,
when dusk settles its hands
either side of your hips,
presses into the grooves
where his tools worked you
into beauty.
Mounted you his sculpture
for all men to see.
Do you not appreciate how
his love made you
into a woman worth seeing?
How even when we whispered it
there was someone shushing
our small mouths
with calloused fingers.
Pressing the words back inside
as if they were Ouranos
horror struck but what we birthed
in those terrible, unspeakable words.
Filling our bellies
with ideas we were not allowed
to give life to.
Until we burst from the ineffable
and held it screaming
before their faces.
Made them look
at what we’d made.
I followed your path,
at a distance.
You like the sun,
or any volatile star
burning a streak
towards the horizon.
A scorching vision
to those of us
watching, waiting.
Aware
that you would set
before us.
Terrified of dusk.
Sensing its arrival
anyway.
They name me
jealous one.
Plait snake through my hair,
till it rises about my shoulders
a mane of venom.
Perhaps this is true enough.
They say I crush men,
the ones who come to me
through their own will
and actions.
Lay the cruelty of betrayal
at my feet.
I am not my sisters,
blood avenger, unceasing
in pursuit.
I am an emotion painted
upon every action
I set forth.
I am furious and bright,
burning beyond recognition
till they shield their eyes
and call me ugly.
I am a woman of power.
I’m so excited that it’s NaPoWriMo again and I get to drive in with the Early Bird Prompt. For anyone who doesn’t know what NaPoWriMo is, it’s an annual poetry challenge that takes place over April. The idea is to write a poem a day for all of April, resulting in 30 poems in total. (31 if you include the Early Bird Prompt). The NaPoWriMo site provides prompts if you want to use them but the main idea is to just sit down and write every day, in very much the same way as NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
If you’re interested then click the badge above to check out the website and then crack open those pens and pads. There is poetry waiting to be written.
Carol J Forrester 
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