Amy Lee Heinlen
In a poem just like this one
a woman, once womb, feels the waistband of her jeans
how easily her ribs have become lost under belly
she wants to focus on words, the bright click
of her fingers quick over the keyboard, as spring
tosses dyed-bright color over the bland landscape
humidity adding a nice wave, some body to her hair
but she wants to focus deeper, write something
to sustain, not only her, but you, and me something
surprising and true, with the kind
of clarity you and I could have written ourselves
say sage, mystic, huntress: that’s what I’ve been trying to say
but what comes is: body— surface, ripple, suffice
Amy Lee Heinlen, poet and publisher based in Western Pennsylvania, is the author of All Else Falls to Shadow (Dancing Girl Press). Her poems appear in Literary Mama, Stirring, Rogue Agent, and elsewhere. Heinlen is co-editor of Lefty Blondie Press, an independent publisher promoting poetry by women and non-binary poets.