MITRAGYNIA

shape shifting :

I am the Seer

the conduit

the vessel

the receiver

the maiden,

the mother, and the crone

I bleed and yet I survive

I am reborn every moon

I come full circle

with a depth you cannot imagine,

with your shallow trajectory of pleasure

I am emptied and

I am (fool)

Here Lies Power.

I can dance between all worlds

earth and aether

warmth between my legs &

fire, deep in my belly

even as my head gets stomped on

I am whole, I am green-eyed

salt-licked cheeks

I am wobbly awake in daylight

I am

practicing restraint

I am

perceiving impermanence

I am

the devil's advocate and mistress

I am

not thinking,

therefore

I am

not ?

I am open for inspection &&

totally unobservable

I am full of surprises, he says

which only reveals his blind bias

rushes about his goodness.

he's miles better than his father.

and still he won't allow me

my name (which he so defends)

Woman.

they are afraid

there'll be nothing left for them.

they are

Afraid.

because like fish and fungi

we are shape

                          shifting

we are sh-he-er

we can be all of it

It doesn't mean we don't need you.

We want you to come with us.

Here Is The Portal --

wide open to enter

you pass through whenever you can but

it's more than just getting in,

more than just getting wet --

it's a taxing art,

being received and re-seen

you'll have to be willing

to sing the skeleton back to life

you'll have to be willing

to kill the things you love dearly

to shed tears and lick wounds

to taste iron in your teeth

to kiss feet, temples and hags

to dissolve and decompose beneath us

to be transformed and chewed up and spat out again

unrecognisable

but oh-so-light

and in the brightness, we'll all be new

our children will shine the way forward

the forest will open its wings

and the earth will tremble with joy,

shapeshifting