When Mud Woman Begins

by

Nora Naranjo-Morse


Electricity
down my arm
through this clay
forming into
spirit shapes
of men
women
and children
I have seen
somewhere before.
Electricity
surging upward
as I mix
this mud
like my mother
as her mother did
with small
brown feet.
Folding into this earth
a decision of
joyful play,
transcending expectations
of fear
failure
or perfection.
Creating spirits
calling invitations
of celebration.
What occurs
in completed form,
bright
and bold,
is motion
from our mother's skin.
I smile
momentarily satisfied
with my play.
Electricity,
generated from star colors
far from home,
entering
through my feet
blessing my hands
and opening my heart.

From Mud Woman, Poems from the Clay , University of Arizona Press
© 1992 Nora Naranjo-Morse
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