After the Gods

May what entered you

leave its heat behind,

not the wound,

but the knowing.

May the gods who tasted you

step back now,

hands lifted,

their hunger satisfied

by your survival.

May winter loosen your hips.

May heat uncoil.

May the dark that opened you

close with softness,

knowing you learned its language

and kept your name.

May the love that stayed

rest inside you now,

no longer proving,

no longer asking,

only breathing

against your spine

like a familiar hand.

May what split you open.

May what spilled

become an offering.

May what fell

know it was seeded,

not lost.

May the mothers gather,

those with earth in their mouths,

those with salt in their hair,

those who burned and bled and bore

and were never thanked.

May they recognize you

by the way you stand afterward.

May mercy come

like a palm between your thighs,

not to take,

but to bless.

May tenderness return

as something

you are allowed

to want.

Go,

not pure,

but claimed by yourself.

Go,

with the year curled inside you,

like a fire that knows

when to open

and when to sleep.

And when the gods call again,

as they always do,

may you answer

from the low place,

the wet place,

the remembering place.

Not with fear.

But with your whole,

ancestral,

living body

Reviews

[W. Barrett Munn]

This is well constructed and interesting to read. At the same time it's a little difficult to get bearings.
I'm wondering if a better title might help. Also, it seems that the first line leaves us guessing when we shouldn't be guessing. May what entered you ... how am I supposed to care about that?
To create suspense, the reader needs to know what is happening. For example, I don't know if this is what you meant, but just for discussion's sake say you start, May the god that entered you ...
Now, I'm located and know what is going on, although weird and unusual.

That's may take. It has the makings of an really interesting poem and you obviously have an great ear for rhythm and diction. Hope my impression is a some value to you.

Winston

[Curly Grace]

Thank you, Winston. I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.
Your note about grounding the opening is helpful. I’ll sit with that. As I revised it, I wanted to strip it down. Maybe I stripped too much??? You've had me thinking...

[Curly Grace]

P.S. I only titled it that because I haven't really thought of one. It was just written after the other very long one you reviewed, lol. So, I stuck that title onto it since it came right after the other one... I agree that it could use another title. :)

[ThisSiteSucks]

Hi Ms Grace (My aunt's name is Grace, that's a beautiful name) I disagree somewhat with Mr Munn. He innocently doesn't fathom what it's like to be female and have your inner parts desecrated. "Enter" is a very graphic word to us. Or it can be a general description.
To me, the poetry is beautifully cryptic. Maybe unfulfilled desire entered me. It would leave heat behind and a 'knowing'. My soul has been opened and it isn't a generic happening.
I know what the write means to me. But it might mean something else to others.
I think it is an amazing write! Respect to Mr Munn (:

[JessyJacob]

It's a great explanation and I see my Guru Geeta that teaches so much to stand and know your feet where they are. I feel as your student and your greatest emotion. I want to save your poem in notes so I see don't be sad in times of tough and i know you are older to me to know about and I still I see i learn from you. This mystery of age is never known to many.
Thank you i want to re read it.


Jessy Jacob ❤️

[Nipplegrinder]

This is remarkable in in it's scope, alone. "May tenderness return", I simply love those words together.
I admire this piece a great deal.

[Trace]

OMG, this is so deep, so sensual and so intellectually erotic. I'm not sure what else to say, but; DAMNED GOOD WRITING.

Huggs, Trace