What She Named Him
He was born on the land—wimmin’s land—
the last remnant from sperm in her body.
She first felt him flutter after a woman
made love to her for the first time. She marveled
at the richness and complexity of lesbian
orgasms; then she remembered reading:
quickening began like bubbles gurgling upward.
She smiled and giggled. Eight months
pregnant she moved to lesbian land gambling
her baby to be a girl so she could stay.
Womyn on the land respected to her to her face but secretly
reviled her belly—a sign of her lack of lesbian allegiance.
The baby betrayed her further. Birthing
elation tempered by her inevitable move.
She named him Lightning Rod with no regard
for what that would mean when he was an adolescent.
– julie r. enszer