Song of a Woman with a Nail by Terry-Anya Hayes/

Nail. says he,/
yet I have none/
nor do remember/
having one/

but O the axe that felled me/
the adze that shaped me/
the bite of these/
is with me/

Woman? He must lie,/
for what is gender/
to such as I?/

with swollen arm upraised,/
sucked of sap, naked of leaves/
no wind shakes me

reduced to thought/
and here at last to words,/
more even than release I crave/
the sweet remembered weight of birds/

The figure holds a nail in her left hand