Ask Any Quilter

my body
an imperialist colony –
what does Desire desire?

What does it look like for a woman to write from an anti-imperialist framework as it pertains to female bodies, sex and desire? It is a horrific dawning when one learns she is not the keeper of her own narrative. I bring the relationship from fiction to non-fiction. I will not punish myself for that, nor allow any to punish me.

Be long. Be longing. Belonging.
He has not kissed me in the shadow of trees.
But you, my poem on your body, no lipstick –

will you come
as the moon
faint on my skin
in the dark ?

Mimic, deceive, devour.
No wonder we are the witch in all tales.
Who creates the role of creator or healer? The shadows are more strict in your telling.

Kimoko writes: it must mean something that our hearts are cut by men like a dress pattern, but sewn by women. Yes, we wield the needle in more deft ways than you can imagine. Ask any quilter. Maybe we women should share more poems with one another. Maybe we should fall in love differently.