I
Call Myself Belly Queen
I'm
twice-born from the beginning,
skin
rosy with the colors of sunrise. I
believe a woman gives birth to this world.
Pressing
her hand into the sacred bone
at
the base of my spine,
she ushers me forward: this
is how I walk. This
is how I stand: spine-strong,
rooting
feet into earth, reaching crown into sky,
my belly pulsing with the beat
of this woman's blood. My
given name is Lisa,
meaning
house of the prophet.
My
surname names Sarah,
mother of my mothers' tribe:
spaceI
come from a line of people
spacewho
keep the promises they make,
spacewho
say the sabbath is a day for making love. I
have oceans inside me, and rising fires,
granite slopes strewn with blueberries,
lush meadows laced with Queen Anne's grace. My
home is this body
and
this breath, this mother's gift.
I
call myself Belly Queen
because
these are words for a woman
who owns herself. | 