I turn to the earth and do not ask for gold.
Just, Lord, please, no blood in the bathroom, the bed.
First blood sent me from bathroom to bed—
red in the bowl not the kind that meant children.
Red on my knees, ten years old, a child,
trials I hardly survived. Yet, we say blessed.
I have survived. We are all or none blessed.
People claim nothing grows in the desert,
so, we believe: Nothing grows in the desert.
We give women dirty names that mean empty.
Give ourselves dirty names that mean empty.
I have seen the New Mexico sky bleed,
I have seen the New Mexico sky bleed
into the earth! Have seen dirt turn gold.