Here Lies a Woman by Claire Taylor

Here Lies a Woman

Out of my mouth come six serpents
a horde of fire ants
a wake of vultures feasting
on the remains of the women
I might have been. My belly is a volcano
hungry for disaster. In the moment of crisis
they’ll shout women and children first!
and it’s true—
we’re always the first to fall. Somewhere a womb
aches while I morph into a pack mule
on the way home from the playground. I am
a jungle gym. A funhouse. Forever
a plaything. A disembodied voice
asking one time too many, twice more than I’d like.
In spring, the builders start the renovation.
They dig up the wet earth, pour the concrete.
That’s me, I say, pointing to the fresh foundation
and we both laugh like I am joking,
telling half truths.
As if I’m not buried,
lost to the ground, thick in the dirt,
holding up this whole life.

*

Claire Taylor is a writer in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the author of a children’s literature collection, Little Thoughts, as well as two micro-chapbooks: A History of Rats (Ghost City Press, 2021) and As Long as We Got Each Other (ELJ Editions, 2022). You can find her online at clairemtaylor.com and Twitter @ClaireM_Taylor.

Three Poems by Claire Taylor

yes, it’s probably because of climate change, but still

I like a garden of tulips
sprung too soon
speckled with ice in February
hoping

*

A Winter Meditation

move slowly
these days linger
in the pause
between seasons
everything breaks
down beneath fallen leaves
a promise: frozen ground
softens the earth
turns over
starts again

*

A Healing

post-storm we find a towering maple
collapsed on its side. the City

comes to clear the way
slices trunk and limbs to restore

the road to normal but
they leave the roots

behind, ripped from the ground
and pointing skyward like

hands in prayer

a year later
I walk through the park

alone

and find the roots
have grown over

moss and vines cover
every inch

a new ecosystem

*

Claire Taylor is a writer in Baltimore, Maryland. She is the author of a children’s literature collection, Little Thoughts, as well as two micro-chapbooks: A History of Rats (Ghost City Press, 2021) and As Long as We Got Each Other (ELJ Editions, 2022). You can find her online at clairemtaylor.com and Twitter @ClaireM_Taylor.