The Origin of the Species

She knew early on
that invisible hands moved
her little people on the map
of larger and smaller countries
born of her sex forms of
a world without end
for girl and boy
growing limbs in her belly.

Taught to play with
her many selves she waited
for the red-hot fireman
who once fed the crescendo
of tenderness now tying
her to the flaming heart
of man eternal.

—BEATRIZ HAUSNER