As I Walk

My journey began long before I knew
that my body could move in any direction
Before I knew the atonement of
Texas sun or Tuscan wine
Before I knew the hungry babies
in the room next to mine

I haven’t the senselessness
nor the soil
to give each fear
a place to bud and branch out
No wish for an emerging death tree
A colossal cancer to wither away
the spine, the muscles of my legs,
the skill in my hands and head

I swaddle up the unknown
pack it away
in an embroidered purse under my arm
or tuck it like a marcasite pin
into the waves of my hair

Keep moving keep multiplying
Creating whole worlds
under a San Antonio sky
Globes of newness needing
nourishment and birth
A billion babies in my womb