Uteri Unite Us

you lust for my

potential vessel

bowl in which to plant

vase of the wilted

contents that I wish emptied

you long to quench

an immense thirst

for what has always been

for what will always be

Mine

you want to enter the hollow cave

stake it out

build a democratic infrastructure

in which I have no vote

I unfold the layers of time

that covers my arrow, my flint

the handprints that pigment my walls

remain unfettered

there is a tomb with a queen who rises

a sheath filled with thousands of swords at the ready

there are women unrestrained by myth

who are not shamed by martyrs

I walk with them

for the right to bleed or birth

for the egg to latch on

or drop free

like a bomb

exploding in catacombs

of grief or relief

freeing woman

who stands alone

to receive

as she chooses

—Angela Meredith