Holding Up The Sky by Emily Marie Bording

Holding Up The Sky 

 

We women who walk the earth

petaled with phlox and rhododendrons,

delight in flushing out its beauty

 

We women are fields of purple daisies

gathered in crystal vases,

singing the virtues of sunshine

 

Summer is all a ruckus;

squirrel’s pitching walnuts, a clarinet and robin duet,

a whistling bamboo and howling dogs too

 

We women have extraterrestrial ears

tuned to stellar pulses,

resonating in our veins

 

We women have meandering muses

drawn to barnyard scents,

and orchards - laden with poetry

 

Where hens cackle all day,

proud of their creations

made fresh from scratch

 

We women travel light,

when our eggs are all gone

love keeps us moving

 

On we climb

guided by sisterly sherpas,

who have been to where we’re going

 

Above the Redwood spires

diamonds - set in blue,

crown our heads each night

 

We women are living circles,

some fixed - some wandering

tethered - only by our imagination

 

We women hold each other up

and let the sky

rest on our shoulders

 

- Emily Marie Bording