ON BEING A LADY 

01

i wish i could say i didn’t worry,
if you liked the way my hips move
when i dance, slow and twisting
but i do

so i close my eyes and
roll them back so far into my head
i’m greeted by the madwoman 
inside of me

she says, 
the sky looks different from 
where you’re sitting and I shouldn’t
let it stop me from thinking 
it could still be beautiful 



02

there is soup on the stove 
and my spoon is swimming in 
the red pot my Grandma gave me 
I’m singing along to Fats Domino

they say there are some things
you can never forget so, I try 
to remember what they feel like 
on my waist, the kind of hands
that grip and grasp, roaming
around as if they could 
somehow find more of me

and while i wait, 
i’ll stir my soup and watch 
the morning glories bloom along 
the wooden fence and pretend 
it doesn’t feel any different 
if the hands are yours 
or in my mind



03

i am a woman 
with a foot on each side 
of the Earth’s seam
unable to choose 
which side to believe 

one day i will live alone 
in a house of my own 
and one day i will live
in a house with you 
but today it seems
that neither is true