Shapeshifting woman

how I surrender to the moon           search for myself

in the darkness when there’s only the thinnest silver sliver

        my body, my mind so still               

I become comfortable in this space

where death touches me and I lean

closer       without needing to understand.      

It would make sense to yearn

for his world.   To be swallowed by a mystery I can’t escape

anymore   unless

        I let go of everything I know, I think I am, I try so hard            to be

I am so scared in a world that kills

what’s beautiful. Scared because I kill the ugly

which is the beautiful which

bones break and knit together in unexpected ways

skin stretches sleek smooth over a body          so foreign

ears grow in wild listening              

my gaze so fierce in yellow & green

my tailbone pushes further & further

        in pain & ecstasy.

I leap into the jungle

                wound-driven          to find home.