(Poem) Creation Myths by Donna Snyder

I.  Woman smiles

Woman smiles,
her face starred, exotic birds tattooed around her mouth,
beneath her eyes, around her nose.
Delicate teeth exposed to heaven, confident that no one scorns.

Woman smiles at Okie brothers, Indian lovers.
Grandmas squatting over iron pots of lard & lye.
Good black river bottom, green with growth--
the kind that feeds, the kind that chokes,
the kind that covers graves.

Candles flicker.  Drums beyond the walls.
Fiddles call the jumping boys who chant & dance
& scare away the spirits.   Rain on a tin roof.
Honeysuckle raising Cain on the side porch.
Dogs under the floor boards, warm and waiting.

Woman smiles.
Calls, “China! Africa!”  Sings, “India, America!”
And the sweet dogs crowd around her knees
and make her dance.

Woman smiles--
a wedding vase, a water bird, a box of roots.
A rocking horse.  A basket facing east.
Out of the earth a mist floats
and fondles the turtle and the deer.

Stars on her face--Woman smiles.
Beads on her head--Woman smiles.
Bird at her chin--Woman smiles.
Stone in her pocket--Woman smiles.
Rainbows behind her--Woman smiles.

Behind the mask, we find Woman.
And once truly found, Woman smiles.

II.  Creation

A fairy handed me beads and a string of tiny bells,
fairy bells, he called them, and wound them across my shoulders.
The beads hang down my chest, promise cool breezes,
grey clouds hiding the new blue sky.

I sleep late.
Bells tinkle and tell me a tale about a place where God smiles
and pulls the world from between her legs.

In my dream, a turtle escapes
a thoughtless lunch of wilted lettuce and white bread.
His home painted on his back, his jaws break twigs.
His scaly feet carry him over the roots of elms and sumac.
He traces his bottom and tail across rich, black earth.

God smiles,
her vast bottom turned up to the sky.
She bends to stroke the back of turtle.
Her vast bottom extends to infinity--quite a spread!
God smiles, and pulls the world from between her legs.

God smiles at the world--its blue oceans, persimmon clouds,
continents green & black.

God has dogs named China, India, Africa, America.
“China!” she calls, “India!”
And the sweet dogs crowd around her knees
and make her dance.

III.  Dream

I dream of God lying on the earth,
beneath a warm sun, beneath a cool breath of wind
that strokes the soft skin of her necks & thighs.