Vernal Princess
Shakti
Out of salt and marrow
out of toothed vagina
out of horn and chitinous underbelly
out of womb and spine
spring enters my body,
graceful and blind and furious.
On the morning of the equinox
I chase the rising sun into the ocean,
shouting incantations to the frozen air.
From my breast to my slippery legs
I am all fluid and stung nerves.
I lower myself into the waves
folding kelp and fish in my deep tissues.
Sinews unwind until I am nothing
but mouth and hunger.
On my skin, rivulets of sweat;
on my lips, a storm.
Transforming imperfectly from shark into woman,
from woman into shark —
this is what I mean by desire:
a woman in the shape of an animal
returns to the teeming sea
where everything is still possible.
Poet: Jacinto Astiazará
© Leslie Baze
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