Why I Run

I could lie and say
I want to be thin—
arms of weasel rope,
like Aphrodite,
but I do not run
to be under man’s
appreciative hands.
I’m no starving nymphomaniac.

I run for wise Athena,
for Artemis and her wolves
for the Goddess of my Loins
Goddess of Strength in my Ass—
heart pounding without falter,
medicine of the round of hips.
I run my imperfection
as the Great Round Earth turns and does not cease.

My breath falls deep, full, steady,
my tread, my heart—unceasing,
like the deep-chested ponies
who run wild upon the moors,
into wind, hill, love, despair,
in breaths, feet, these fall away,
for I don’t run to be small.
I run and am large.

Scratch

You ain’t so deep--
if I could forget
you for a whole day--
you would probably disappear.

Tanya Rucosky Noakes was born in the mountains east of Pittsburgh. She has degrees from the University of Pittsburgh in English Literature and Information Science, and a further degree in Environmental Education from Slippery Rock University. She has worked as an archivist, editor, organic farmer, teacher, UN representative, and park ranger and has wandered around Europe, the American West, and spend several years in Thailand and Taiwan. Currently she has wandered over to the other side of the planet where she owns an organic farm and runs a community environmental organization in rural Australia. She has been published in Taproot, The Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, and Soul Fountain among others, and has a chapbook which came out in May.

Email: Tanya Rucosky Noakes

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