Headline Poem 5/28/14 -- How do I as a woman?

Maya Angelou has died at the age of 86. Today's poem is dedicated to her. 

How do I as a woman? 

How do I as a woman

Use words she hasn't already 

to describe the depths of what it means 

to be alive

As a sensual, attentive human being

Who sucks the craters 

of the ocean floor

dry?

How do I as a woman 

Continue

To love 

To cherish 

To trust

To      interpret the depths 

in spite of   our  faults,

That   run  asleep  like rivers so deep 

Trickling through dark, 

uncharted extremes, 

only to 

Awaken 

    Soaked   and   enlightened

At the back of a handsome stream?

How do I as a woman 

balance 

The triskele of femininity 

being virgin, mother, and whore

Answering to everyone, 

yet to no one 

     but 

     myself?

How do I as a woman 

Learn to embrace my sisters 

(and brothers)

Instead of compete with 

them 

For the attention I teach 

my boys and baby girl 

Not to need?

As a woman I rise 

each day 

to the multitudes of the earth, 

Arms outstretched,

and I breathe 

   in 

     the 

       strength 

From 

all of you 

and within,

And I say -- dammit if I don't deserve to eat this life up! 

As a woman I sing. 

As a woman I love. 

As a woman I release.