WOMAN BORN

you are right
to be confused
about my birthday
it makes perfect sense
i realized
tonight as i walked
in the twilight
my birthday
is every day
i will no longer be
the goddess of immutable patterns
my new identity will be
the woman born every day
i will be born each day
into this world
of gravity and air and asphalt
of stoplights and carpet
of moss and sparrows
of icicles and ostrich eggs
i will be born
out of lake hefner
like venus on the halfshell
i will be born
out of the bathtub
my body tinged with jasmine oil
i will be born
out of the sun
shining and hot
i will be born
out of my tears
i will be borne
on the wind
i will be born
into my cubicle
i will be born
into your hands
i will have new eyes
i will see new things
i will have fresh ears
i will hear new things
i will have a new heart
i will discover my fingertips
every day
i will go shopping
for my new self
for the parts of me
i will be born
into stockings,
into shoes,
into love, hate, desire
i will be born
into the sky
feet first
all the way to heaven
on a swing
i will be born again
and again and again
like a snowboarder
curving down the mountain
into fresh snow
cutting the edge
finding the powder
laughing
"born and reborn again"
a line from a jewish round
we used to sing in church
i will live this way
every day when i am born
i will call out the time:
"three-thirty-two"
"nine-fifty-six"
i will make new connections
in my brain every day
now if you ask me,
today is my birthday
i am the woman
born every day