THE DIVIDED WOMEN
rochelle holt
i.
Her eyes were found
dancing in Puget Sound,
the left one on toe shoe
while right stepped above view
poised barefoot beyond
water and the ground
with a red ribbon
across face on sun
in a pirouette
the wind might have split.
ii .
Her hands crossed each other
like fingers in eyes
looking for lost lover
who had vanished after lies
whispered in the night,
the right palm closed over thighs
as her left kept blinking at light
rising in desert
blinding embrace in D~JaJawn’s sight
while sharp nails dug into sand of earth
tightly holding Moon,
only mirage of shadowless mirth.
iii.
Her feet were stained teeth
chattering on beach
biting flying fish
chewing on death wish
like a mermaid with bone
as gold toes of stone
fell into mouth of Key West
putting bleeding lips to test
of hissing the green flash
to digest two soles lashed.
iv .
Her nose was resurrected
ln Kansas wheatfield
as an echo underfed
because deaf ears were sealed
to sound with no smell,
nostrils failing to yield
in silence of bell,
without fragrance
stifled sneeze could tell
in such piercing fire of darkness
where love scent can’t be heard
whistling smoke that does not bend.
v.
Her tongue like breasts
licked peaks and crests
of Adirondack
blue-veined tamarack
whose leaves were blessed
by twin-tinged guest
tasting sweet trees
like suching bees
who cradle buds
in spite of flood.
vi.
Her ears were pointed,
flaring across a river
awake in a bed
covered with duck feathers
that tickled hairs in her nose
even in dry weather
as they smelled a Texas rose
on wide brim of cowgirl hat
adrift in Rio Grande flow
waiting for scent of cougar that
is not rustle of cattle
but silent Mexican wetback
vii.
Her mind was silk hair
still long but scalped there
in eerie Blach Hills
where Sioux memory wills
George Custer’s last stand
was not on his land
but hers, the Mother
Earth shorn in murder
like rape of buffalo
in South Dakota.
viii.
Still, her mouth reached to grasp
thick fog in the West
like mute ghost riding fast,
her thighs speaking gibberish
on edge of a bridge
clinging to song of t
with Isadora, strange privilege,
because naked lips
open to dance on or off stage
kiss embrace with scarf at wide hips
the wind holds at bay
while blowing over bones or ship.
ix.
But her high cheeks
looked over beaks
buried in clay
staring past day
like magnolia
in Shangrila
moistened by rain
blind to South’s pain
under kudzu
groping voodoo.
x.
Her fingers were discovered
without nails in ice,
unbroken Excalibur
standing in frozel vise
with knobby knuckles
like spine fossilized,
trying to buckle
Chicago wind
to bring a chuckle
to sharp snowballs throwing children
a rainbow of lost gloves
sailing back off Lake Mlchigan.
xi.
Her waist was pulsing
in a braided ring
like the narrow nech
of scarecrow on trek
in Iowa corn,
chohing to be born
as bride of a Sioux,
riding horse not ewe
out of the valley
to wide breath of lea.
xii.
Her breasts weren’t divided
like soft Cupid lips
or curved swollen eyelids
but rather arched with a tip
in shape of a nose
that was smooth narrow airstrip
of coast of Maine where some planes go
to smell fir at dawn
whose bare branches are edged with snow--
one pulsing bosom searching what’s gone
or buried in sleep
with fragrant scent of tawny-fur fawn.
xiii.
But her vagina
was in Nevada,
still an open ear
to echo a fear
as thin lips listened
for touch of a friend
like the sound of wind
not knife of mankind
that would tear the flesh
of a womb of fish.
xiv.
Her face was the black skin of night
with one full moon eye
awake even after midnight
as flesh absorbed the white lie
off sharp outer banks
without a tear or cry
like body walking plant
not prepared to drown,
because a higher rank
bids open eye not look down
but above master
to shimmer, wearing star crown.
xv.
Her voice heard the sight
of soprano light
but did not whisper
like an amateur
blinded by the sun
not phenomenon
to a ginging ghost
on Alaska coast
whose song is a gaze
beyond mortal praise.
xvi .
Her hands spoke the language of love
as they cooed and fluttered
like seagull or brown wings of dove
whose words could stop woodcutter
or angry volcano
ready to spew and sputter
but restrained by echo
that is romantic grip
louder than ocean flow
to poise axe at hip
or soothe restless lava
with gesturing lips
that enchant Ali Baba
embraced by windy song
of a Hawaiian hula.
xvii.
Her breath was perfume
from flowering plum,
scent of magnolia
inside Savannah,
wafting over fog
veiling slave in bog
like a potent wind
that recalls the sin.
xviii.
Her lips were thinking,
found in the shape of a brain
like a watch mainspring
still ticking in the rain,
reflecting on a white house,
part of Smithsonian,
because trap can catch a mouse
in mind of her mouth
which refuses to chew spouse
smacking prejudice-smile in South
or dream entombed in Congress
after wars should have ended drought.
xix.
Her toes could taste
in the Wabash,
fish poisoned by
politics’ lie,
because barefoot
flesh stained with soot
rejects promise
that is sharp kiss
of river death
by cruel Macbeth.
xx.
She wore heart on her sleeve,
orange scarf over head
of most rational Eve,
who still feels after she’s dead
like found Cherokee
spirit, the dream never fled,
d.espite red tears of agony
staining false blankets,
vast despicable treachery
by thoughtless humans without regret
or vague knowledge of
what seething emotion will beget.
xxi .
Her belly was left
rough palm in steep cliff
growling with curved grip
attached to horsewhip
beyond appetite
held closer than tight
grumbling in canyon
Utah Mormans own.
xxii.
Her temper screamed like a toenail
grown in New Jersey
under waves around al ost whale
outside Atlantic City
as sharp, thin rage scratched
boardwalk without melody,
filled with vendors’ attack
on that garden state
no longer a class act
though complaints still separate
garbage from the class
while strong suburbs remain white.
xxiii.
Now a question echoes.
above train on railroad
across such wide country
where everyone is free;
was woman dismembered
or risen like strange bird
with power to scatter
through mind that can shatter
reality or peace,
her birth a masterpiece?
xxiv.
For her bones were a whisper
rising up from knee,
not magic of amateur
or simply destiny
as echo haunted caves
or mound in Tennessee
like whitecaps of waves,
silencing mermaid ache,
or voices from grave
with squaw and slave,
dancing to pale tune
Ever engraved.
xxv.
If her blood was clay
streaming flesh all day
like endless rainbow
includes tobacco,
her skin was color
of every farmer
who plants any soil
that’s not been despoiled
as long as some rain
runs through mud earth vein.
xxvi.
But her buttocks weren’t separated
like black fingers wait
to stroke any place without hatred
for cheeky embrace of helpmate
who doesn’t sit down
while standing to participate
holding firm on any ground
in North Dakota
or Mobile where lies abound
just like Minnesota
which denies Detroit
spread beyond soft quota.
xxvii.
Was she everywhere
like hips of a pear
spreading her sweet fruit
through valley and butte
in Idaho or
maybe Baltimore
not as prostitute
or a bitter brute
but ample and round
with wide taste unbound.
xxviii.
For her laughter like tears
spread over the dawn
after everynight fears
the music of dream withdraws
in old New Orleans
or spray from Niagara Falls
where smiles bespeak the unforeseen,
weeping loudly strange
with handkerchiefs and tambourine
this stream of joy sadness can change
in river of day
woman’s sigh, echo across range.
xxix.
Was she lost or found
buried above ground
with spirit floating
like a shadow seen
walking on her knees,
her arms waving breeze
across a wide sky
that never asks why
memories need return
through bodies to learn
states are united
with living or dead
since Time can’t sever
Mother of Natur
rising moon or sin
for everyone.
