I am a hungry woman
My body has always softened the blow
of guttural yearning
A buffering layer
A little internal mercy from the judgment of others
But thank goddess the older I get
The crones were right
The less I give a fuck
About disguising the scale of my appetite
As if there were anything to ever hide in the longing
For love that wrecks composure
For sex that pulls sound from the bottom of my lungs
For conversations that split me open
And for Life that leaves me speechless
Hunger for the small delights
Tending orchids while their roots soak
Honey peeking through dandelion tea
The quiet animal pleasure of breathing deeply
In a place where I belong
And hunger for the riot of experience that awaits me when I sleep
When my mind takes off all its clothes
And wanders naked through the architecture of my soul
Each day a discovery
One step closer to death
To know when it arrives
I will have metabolized what life had to give me
I’ve never hidden my hunger well
Even when I thought I could, my form told another story
It seeps right through my skin
As obvious as my emotions on my face
My body has been announcing it since puberty
Belly and breasts both abundant,
My flesh knowing early on I was not built for moderation
Women are still taught to starve gracefully
To file down desire
Until it fits neatly in the palm of someone else’s comfort
To call restraint maturity
But hunger is orientation
A compass pointing to where life feels scarce or flourishing
Hunger IS life itself
Rising through the body demanding participation
And I have always wanted to eat the whole animal of being alive
Nose to tail, no piece spared
I find myself hungrier than ever these days
And I am more adept at feeding and feasting
On love as a state of being
And becoming sated
These days it’s for truth
In a storm of deception, violence, noise
I am hungry for the voices who speak from their bellies
And call out through their hearts
This is not a time to be small
This is a time to be full bodied, full breasted beasts of love
Strong of heart, and sound of longing
For the world our hearts are starving for
For an existence that does not deprive and deplete
Or indulge in rotting culture
But leaves us full on the generosity of love
For in the fullness is the emptiness
And in the emptiness, the everything
For there you’ll find the trust
That there is always enough to go around
We need the hungry women now
Who cut their teeth on truth
And recognize the starving children
Inside the screaming adults
We need the hungry women
Who live deep inside their seasons
And know that true nourishment
Should not feel like an act of rebellion
I came here to feast on Life
To stay wet with appetite
The edge of my hunger sharp
And I intend to stay ravenous and generous
With love
To feed
And in the end
Be food
