"RUBY IN PARADISE"

the world/her life

pieces of shell floating

in on the tide and back

again    a woman's life

how she survives    how

she loves    how she

chooses    how she claims

self-respect and clasps it

near    how in her loneliness

she comes close to losing

it    how we all dance

to Shiva's tune    live in

Rapunzel's tower or

Bluebeard's castle    how

we cross the lines in loving

the world and all, all that's in it



call for the singing

pray for the warm

wind    go to bed    go to

bed and rise again tomorrow

By
Maril Crabtree

Maril Crabtree lives in the Midwest but spends large chunks of time on Florida beaches. Her poems and essays have been published in numerous small press journals and anthologies, including three by Papier Mache Press, a stellar women's press: "At Our Core: Women Writing About Power," "I am Becoming the Woman I've Wanted," and "If I Had My Life to Live Over I Would Pick More Daisies."