ARTIST STATEMENT

After Anne Waldman

I am a fast speaking woman, I am a forked tongue 

Woman, 

I am a woman with words, a woman of curves 

a curse.

I’m a woman that cares too much, 

A woman that don’t give a damn, I am 

a hell fire woman, I’ll spit in

your face 

I’ll lick your wounds, I am 

an animal,

I’m a nail biting woman, I am 

spell bounding, too.   

Look into my eyes and 

you’ll see nothing 

but Truth,  

I am a woman of my word 

the words, and the world 

Did I mention? 

I am a fast speaking woman, 

Too quick 

and I’m gone

outta here, 

I am a woman that leaves 

no breadcrumbs. 

I am my own legacy, I speak 

 a history of cavities 

 I speak 

with my swollen tongue, 

        my bitten lips 

I’m thirsty, 

and I bring my own water. 

I drink,

 from a pool of electricity. 

Did I mention

I am a fast speaking woman? 

I have no reins behind me 

cool, like ocean water

and warm like

 sand 

tossed for 1000 years. 

I am a woman of no bones 

so you can’t break my back, 

but still headstrong, I am 

a woman 

of 

determination, I run circles around my own soul.

I am 

the woman that 

raised

me

Momma, we are fast speaking women 

and you can’t 

tell us 

what to do.  

I am an avalanche 

a thin sliver of melting ice 

I am the snow that falls at midnight,

the quiet

 in the room

the drone, buzzing beneath 

your eyelids

scraping away,

scratching to get out. 

I am the fast speaking woman 

you tried 

so damn hard  

to hide but you couldn’t 

the sunrise woman, 

I am the woman of new 

beginnings, 

the woman of turned pages, 

and I’ll burn those pages, too 

I am the woman of abandon,

the woman of all 

embrace,

I am her

 and she is I 

Two stones, 

at the bottom of the lake, 

I am 

the lady in the lake,

the woman in the water

you tried

to drown 

I’ll haunt you with my siren songs, whisper 

sweet nothings 

about 

God and the Devil raging inside, 

I am the blue machinery of night, 

the first moon’s harvest, 

the last autumn burial,

“A boy from this small town has died,
and tonight the town awaits tomorrow
when they will lay beneath the blade
of the backhoe youth curled like a seed in jaws of frost.”

 I am the woman that greets the boy, 

holding him with soft light 

he is safe with me.

I am the protector woman, I am 

the warrior woman, I’ll fight 

till my honorable death  

but I don’t die for honor anyway.

I am a woman that dreams

            within your dreams 

I almost forgot, I am 

a fast speaking woman, 

but how can you forget 

your soul 

knowing you can’t

 depart it.

I am a memory woman,

I am an educated woman 

earning knowledge, like kneading bread 

I am a baked woman 

I rise 

I rise 

I rise. 

I am a fast speaking woman, 

watch my words 

slither

 in the air 

like smoke 

I am the storyteller woman 

old like tree rings,

        skin like wood grain,

I am the wise 

Woman, 

You need to keep running, 

don’t stop digging, 

you’ll get there, 

the center of the earth isn’t hard to find, 

just listen to the sound of it turning.