Earthscape artwork by Andres Amador
Broken Women
She was not safe
in the hands of giants,
this much she knew.Broken women watch
the coast from their houses,
for black eyes rising
as the sun bobs on the horizon,
the sea heaving in billows.She was not a woman
who knew the difficulty
of steadying an ever-restless boat,
tempest-christened;
gold trees lined the shore
as if set on fire,
and even as their naked roots clung
to the rocks like fingers,
these wooden skeletons
warn of the sirens below.Lost among the islands
of lost affairs, the horizon
no longer offering adventure
or wonder, she pulled her own wreck
along the rocks, praying
for strong ropes and currents
while slowly splintering,
as if made of wood and nail herself.
