The Iron Sister
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Words

 Wonder Woman

for Charleena Lyles

There’s a hole where the child was.
Great big hole- twinkling embers inside with
howling sounds flying between the walls of your chest.
Indigo smoke in the shape of the last magnolias is pouring
from you.
Your eyes meet morning’s hard blues and shallow, melon
beams.
Those beams are stretching against the city.
Fire touching your gut
where the child was.
The Moon sees your writhing, your children fleeing the metal assault
before she zips away into light.
But you cannot die, daughter of Hippolyta.
You cannot mourn in the cool thicket of willows with
plaited hair.
You cannot go without defense; your dominion is over the trees,
hands and cannons on this bulbous planet scorched with indifference.
a woman with two knives
You did not die.
There are tea candles on the sidewalk,
rings of them marking the wound,
marking your ascent into a cloudless place ahead.

© The Iron Sister

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Polenta Skillet Cakes with Grapefruit Ginger Cream
NY Visit +Emmy Fashion

0 comments

  • Courtney
    June 23, 2017

    “But you cannot die, daughter of Hippolyta.” Thank you for putting this out in the world

    Reply
    • theironsister
      June 23, 2017

      Thanks for reading!

      Reply
  • cfoleywriting
    June 29, 2017

    I love this poem, so full of heartbreak but also the strength to continue.

    Reply

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