Siân Killingsworth
Inanna Speaks
My manifold guises
traverse the earth spinning
facts, fictions, and associations
I rest on pallets of red ocher
gold of a goddess
I warm my body with lions
weak bodies of men writhe in worship
I transform them to women,
madder, much more stable
armed and dangerous, they call me
poisonous cinnabar culled
from a small gland, an 8-pointed star
a mighty rival
challenging stature
theological and ideological
they call me mystical or carnal,
depraved, a shepherd husband and many more—
a lush lifestyle, love and passion
slow changes of mind over centuries,
men gird themselves for war with me–
wear rarer blue
all the while I blaze
undaunted and unsubdued
my women still love
me, my red, my ardor
my hips and breasts
they sing of their own
and honor me. The eggs
in spring are mine, the sex
always mine. Worship the life
the death, the cycle. Like a crash
of your imagination and hope
I fly across the sky
Siân Killingsworth’s poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies including Columbia Poetry Review, Calamus Journal, Ekphrastic Review, Oakland Review, and Mudfish. She has an MFA in poetry from the New School, where she served on the staff of Lit. She lives just north of San Francisco.