The sun’s unmarked territory

Begged for me to stake my flag in its coronal holes

And show man that only womankind can go there.

Hell hath no fury—

I’ve scorned & scorched—

And have been the black char leftover after the fire—

Where the green will be green again in time

But memories of the scalding will always leave scars much bigger than the shadows can shield.

Climbing the tree

Is the closest to God I will ever be.

My arms are branches

That connect the bridges from my girlhood

To my womanhood.

I never reached the top of the tree,

Only the low-hanging fruit:

God said it tasted like power,

Conquest in the ripened flesh.

I swallowed my pride—

And anchored myself as roots.

Interlocked my fingers around her trunk,

And just started swinging.

If we fall,

We fall together.