Water Women

We do not want
to rock the boat,
you say, mistaking
our poise
for something safe.

We smile secretly:
for some time
we have not been
in the boat.

We jumped
or were pushed
or fell
and some leaped
overboard.

Our bodies form
a freedom fleet
our dolphin grace
is power
each woman's hands
are water wings.

Some of us have become
mermaids or Amazon whales
and are swimming for our lives.

Some of us
do not know how to swim.
We walk on water.

--Alla Bozarth-Campbell