body autonomy – Stacey Murphy _

When Roe Fell

On a Friday of heartbreakone of the neighborhood vixenshelped herself to cherriesdropped on the groundby our backyard treenosing nonchalantlyfor a hospitable half hourno question to her freedomsjust an omnivorewith no dilemmaonly juicy bursts of sourand gentle pink lightthrough tree branchesat the end of a better dayin the history of foxesthan of humans. Stacey Murphy, 6/24/2022

Scrub

from “Old Stones Understand” – 2021 Shanti Arts LLC. in response to the June 24th Supreme Court Roe v. Wade overturn. At day’s endall over the world,we lather the cloth. Time to removethe makeupthe armorthe magician’s blindfoldthe leatherthe ancient battle-maskthe gunk. Scrub through the fake smilethe nervous twitchthe uncertain glancethe bruisethe poxthe shamethe un-yieldthe unintendedContinue reading “Scrub”

My Body

On January 20th it was the five-year anniversary of the Women’s March, an event that occurred in hundreds of cities and communities around the world and involved millions of people. I was at the march in Washington DC. I remember the way we felt at the end – like we had a toehold on hopeContinue reading “My Body”