Heritage

Click to enlarge.

on the deck
lying nude
I remember
there's a tradition
of walking naked
in my history

Doukhobor women who, lacking horses
or oxen,
harnessed themselves to the plow
pulled a beast's burden
to break new land

know the power of their body
break rules of government
by stripping their clothes
their faith
as 'spirit wrestlers'
sure as their borsch-fed buttocks

and yet
something is frail about
those women
of my heritage
walking naked in protest

their flesh unlike any machine
or weapon

Copyright by Carolyn Zonailo: www.carolynzonailo.com, 2004