Allison Armstrong: Umbilical Roots
Photo: Joanna C. Valente
Metamorphosis
Breathe deep
all the way down
to the clay
bowl of my ishium
my need resides
here
desperate and hungry
Umbilical roots
aren't pretty
but they slop out of me
burrow deep
curl around granite
like a fist
holding on
Indrawing certainty
The rose at the base of
my spine
opens
blooms
between solid thighs
This poem originally appeared in our ebook The Queer Body.
Allison Armstrong is a queer leather femme, a kitchen witch, and a Professional Naked Girl, living on an ancient seabed, and unceded Algonquin territory, in Ottawa where she writes poetry, reads tarot, and makes things with her hands. She has work published, or forthcoming, in Moonchild Magazine, Bywords.ca, Red Queen Literary Magazine, L'Éphémère Review, and Hustling Verse, among others. Follow her adventures on twitter @amazon_syren.
