Reanimated Lavender Granola Switchblade Nun rides again.

Sunday, September 8, 2013

book of numbers

We women know--
that to everything,
there is assigned a number.

From the creatures gathered two by two before the flood,
to the 666 of the beast,
each thing has a value before God.

Let men talk
and talk
and talk.
We know the natural math of the rings within each tree,
growing silently and for their own purposes.

We women can feel it--
23 pairs to a strand inside us,
three seasons gone before the first cry comes.

Here is the real importance of numbers--
how much yeast to a loaf,
how much sugar to the flour,
and how may places to set for those we call ours.

Meanwhile, men count borders,
build-ups,
and days left to linger in hell
when the things worth counting have been obliterated.
_________

 
 
 

14 comments:

  1. Fucking for Virginity. Exactly. The beautiful in its strength and subtlety.

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  2. i wish i was as wise as these women you speak of...

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  3. This has me all-over in goosebumps, Shay. What a protest! Women know how to do that too.

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  4. Shay--Strong and simple and oh-so-true. Yowza!

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  5. A lovely lilt behind the grim truths in this Shay. The world grows more Orwellian every day, and the things worth counting seem to have become only dollars and more dollars. Power and money, but because we can't say that out loud, it's 'Bombing for Justice,' "Killing for Peace,' and yes, even fucking for virginity makes more sense.

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  6. It is SO past time for women to have a try at running this world. The first thing we'd do is Feed the Children with all the stupid war machine money. That would be a start.

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  7. If Man is five
    Then the Devil is six
    Then God is seven
    This monkey's gone to Heaven
    - The Pixies

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  8. I love this. But... some of the worst feuds I have witnessed have been between women. I do believe women are slower to go to war, but if the time ever came to do so - watch out. And if a woman has no "motherly" qualities about her (doesn't have to be a mother, that isn't what I'm talking about) in my opinion, she is far more dangerous than a man.

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  9. Oh, and I have bookmarked this poem as it is pure genius

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  10. You have a good point - but as an irishman who's family suffered under the rule of Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth - there are clearly exceptions.

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  11. my grandmother would have loved you, Shay ~ M

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  12. BRILLIANT.

    I'm in love with you and your words! WOW.

    btw... Thatcher and Elizabeth 1 were def. in the MINORITY!

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  13. Well then Run for office.
    You got MY vote!

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Spirit, what do you wish to tell us?