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