if i were to say that...

if i were to say that
today is:

...beautiful

then that is my prerogative

i will follow beauty
across the arcing day
in the wake
of Apollo's chariot,
borrowing expired light
to guide my pedaled wandering

and if the smell of asphalt
thickly snakes up
from the smooth-paved blackness
of unfamiliar streets
and fills my nose
with humid memories
of easier days

then i will let it


but as Night drifts westward
in the high-domed twilight,
baring scattered stars
and a luminous moon
I am
Woman
once more

born into the fullness of the moon
and throbbing with the pulse of Artemis,
i curve my naked feet
to match the roundness
of the deepblack Earth
and call her
Mother