Ablaze

Rise(the flames that lick the sky /

The baby birds beginning to fly /

The woman of iron wills learning

To love). Resurrect(lizard tails

Cleaved clean, a guillotine, that

Sprout infancy / weeds sliced,

Ripped, upheaved, fighting back /

The mushrooms we eat that devour us back). Resilience(the little girl tld to forgo her dreams In favour of conformity / the coins that collect

In the bottom of purses / The dance of the

Winds, the sacred element that haunts the

halls as night walks the walls).

SOCIETY:

“It’s easy.

It’s freeing.

Invite it in, it’ll save you.”

But I bear the marks of death evaded, tokens and

Tailesmens shattered, my mother’s laugh lines

From a life well lived. Becoming hurts, its not

Something you shed. I bear it; the ribs, the notches,

The ladders, that rest on my flesh pink tongue from

Biting down, in search of becoming palatable. The

Exit wounds on the back of my skull - I adored them

With silver and jewels but the blood never stops -

And the scars on my belly, a womb empty, a stomach

Fed on blades, trojan swords swallowed just so I can

Live another day. Survival sinks its teeth and scorches

Your flesh. Lesson learnt; don't be afraid to age, beauty

Is all about fighting, and becoming is not easy.