Water Birth

There is a road leading off
of Baker's Dozen
and Sassafras
that takes you to my home

I am Waking Cave
daughter of the Swallow
sister of the stone
my voice is the silence of stars
my breath is cool breeze

I am late summer
on black lake
gray ice
under the pines

cones to fill your basket
and offerings for your moon

I am eight million years in the making
limestone and fossil fuel
closed doors
for one hundred winters

I bore my ventricles
deep into the bones
of Mother Earth
Father Sand

I am heroine
in the veins of my planet
liquid diamond to light the depth
of black the shade of nothing