Woman

Woman
as if I need a man to be

woman without a man is wo
in Chinese, this means
Me
Means permission to be a person
that I gave to myself
I
Wo
Means waking up to thunder
and heat rumbling from black tangle of hair
no one could force my hand to shave
Means making my own forest out of flame
and the smell of it coaxes ravens to flee
the wolves sing a hymn
as the logging industry is razed to the ground
my eyelashes the moon that winks through the elbows
of smoking branches that are
both altar and lamb
both the sacrifice and the betrayal
 
and the forgiveness
 
and the holy
 
Wo was here before the 30th birthday
was here before the man
here since the first old maid
Wo was woodsmoke in belly
was blood in dirt and through the veins of leaves
that gave shade and wilted under it
Wo gave and took it away
took and made two of herself
 
she married her
 
the sky cried for days
 
there was a fire that the logging industry razed to the ground
the ashes turned into a flood
all the leaves wilted
and the altar was bloody
on the 30th birthday, someone wrote a bible and it was wrong
they forgot about the ravens
 
the ravens saw this happen
 
captive, they are known to speak