& so it is.

I give praise to Woman —

the Woman in she

the Woman in her

the Woman in girl

the grandmother Woman

the mother Woman

the daughter Woman

the refuge

the earth

the peace of mind Woman

Woman whose womb is a labyrinth

her umbilical cord —

the thread that threads me home

her kinky coiled hair —

each strand snakes her wisdom

her power

her regeneration

Her breasts —

her breasts hang & dangle two pieces of fruit

offering themselves for the edification of those who take her in

She — El Shaddai

She — Holy Spirit

She — Mother God

She — Sophia

& her Woman makes me holy ghost

her woman makes me whole

I am her light

the embodiment of enlightenment

I — her crescent moon

because of Woman

I shine

Goddess of the Dark

earth, wind, & fire

she is my blessing

& so it is.

A’shѐ

that I speak her name

hoping to define & re-shape reality

She — Maya Angelou

She — Alice Walker

She — Zora Neale Hurston

She — Toni Morrison

her paradise is in her bosom

& she prefers the hazards of freedom than the safety of cages

& when I look at her, my eyes are watching God

She — Goddess

She — Great Mother

Oshun

Yemaya

Mungu

Mary

Hokhmah

She — Shirley Chisolm

She — Phyllis Wheatley

She — Nefertiti

She — Harriet Tubman

She — Woman

Her back is a turtle’s shell

supporting & balancing the universe

her lap holds its burdens

& I stand on her shoulders

reaching for her genius

A’shѐ

She — Nina Simone

She — Nikki Giovanni

She — Gwendolyn Brooks

She — bell hooks

She — Assata Shakur

A’shѐ

She — Angela Davis

She — Elaine Brown

She — Queen of Sheba

She — Joan of Arc

A’shѐ

Sacred Feminine

Goddess of Crete

Artemis

Nike

Ariadne

Persephone

Athena

Her buffalo skin is sacred & powerful

Her feminine center —

a unicorn uniqueness that centers me

& I stand balanced in her virginity

A’shѐ

She — Coretta Scott King

She — Betty Shabazz

She — Audre Lorde

She — Mahalia Jackson

She — Fannie Lou Hammer

She — Ruth, Naomi, & Esther — caryatids

A’shѐ

She — Rosa Parks

She — Billie Holiday

She — Shug Avery

She — Sojourner Truth

& like Sappho, I speak these truths thru my poetry

because if I don’t tell her story, then who will?

A’shѐ

so like dust, I rise

like volcanoes, I erupt

like a glitzy black sequence shawl wrapped around me in a horizon of stars,

I shimmy

my rage is outrageous

& I am a woman on the loose who cannot stay silent

because silence will not save me

A’shѐ

so I refuse to be a victim

because she / her / woman has given me her traveling shoes

& so I dance, I swirl, I sashay

in her femininity

in her divinity

in her womb

& I celebrate her in all of her beauty

because she is beautiful —

beautiful in her pregnancy

beautiful in her menstruation

beautiful in her menopause

she is one-in-herself

she is Jesus

she is love

& her heart is a seed planted in the world

like a tree that’s planted by the waters

& because she is not moved

she keeps the movement moving

A’shѐ

She is Woman.

A’shѐ

& she’s got the whole world in her hands

A’shѐ

& so I praise her name

A’shѐ

because she is worthy to be praised

A’shѐ

A’shѐ

A’shѐ