I want to write about 

hope 

joy

and love 

I want to write about 

pain that sears  

flesh into charred 

cells that remember ashes 

You can cling to fear 

but I walk the path of healing 

Mine is a truth of self 

and absolution 

You ask me to remember stories 

that are not mine 

We women wear 

them in our throats 

tight knots that choke voice

We have forgotten Isis

pulling the red chord of our wombs

We have forgotten feathers

folded against our hearts

Women, spread wide your red

lips

sing

laugh

rage

birth

This sacred ground is yours

to recover

Bare the Rainbow of Truth

in a circle

of raw threads

stripped of

hate