Letter to my Enlightened Self by Lauren Valle
To My Enlightened Self
Silent self, self made of stone
Self that witnessed the birth of the ocean and
bathed in the torrents of mucus and blood
Self that melts the boundaries between her own beauty
and the beauty of the world
All boundaries and no boundaries
Dissolved and made
Woman-self!
Woman whose heart is big enough to hold the whole world
Woman whose heart is made of medicine
Weaver, space-holder, protector of life
Uttering ancient songs and waving her arms in bliss
and communication and communion
Quiet woman resting in the woods
Hair tangled into the roots of a tree
Toenails transforming into bark
Wrists bent into branches
Tears of sap and breasts of burls gnarled onto the trunk
Adorned woman
Empty woman