Canadian
Annie
The trouble with having a poet for a mother
is the unrealistic view of the world she gives you
Annie told me menstruation
was the weeping of the disappointed womb
Years later I said
they were probably tears of relief
and she looked at me as if life
had, again, disappointed her
Tem Eyos Ki"
Tem Eyos Ki learned love
in the waiting house
surrounded by women
and when she came back
she was a woman struck by lightning
She led the women away from the village
away from pots and pans and duties and obedience
into a forest where they frolicked with the children
and learned how love could really be
When the men sought them out
a magic dugout came from the sky
and Tem Eyos Ki leaped into it
singing
and rode off above the rain forest
She visited with the magic people
learned songs from them
At night I could hear her
and I yearned
