{\rtf1\fbidis\ansi\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2 Arial;}{\f1\fnil\fprq2\fcharset2 Signs;}{\f2\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} \viewkind4\uc1\pard\ltrpar\f0\fs28\par \par \par \pard\ltrpar\qc\cf1\f1\fs144 6\cf0\f0\fs28\par \pard\ltrpar\par \par \par \tab\tab\cf1\b\f2 GODDESS,\b0 by Roger Fritz, 10-13-93\par \par \tab Yesterday arrives in the form of an afternoon fog.\par \tab We put on our clogs and walk through it to the \par \tab\tab puppet show.\par \tab Torches flare, and the goddess looms, \par \tab a hundred feet high.\par \tab Pale as wind, blue as forget-me-nots,\par \tab she is somber and detached, foreign as the desert winds,\par \tab and familiar as our hands.\par \tab We throw garlands, and they sail past her.\par \tab\tab Her eyes part the clouds,\par \tab and she strides through our landscape,\par \tab her feet planting gardens in the future, and \par \tab her hem sweeping nightmares from dreamers.\par \tab\tab The children wake in the night,\par \tab and hear her heatbeat like a distant train running\par \tab on golden rails.\par \tab The stars in her flesh and in her hair\par \tab pull them out of their bones\par \tab and out of their thoughts, \par \tab and slingshot them into a lake of amber joy.\par \tab They wash up on the beaches toward morning,\par \tab smiling the way infants smile,\par \tab their eyes empty of anything but mystery.\par \tab And they wiggle toward their bodies like giggling grunion,\par \tab come back from the moons and tides, and still \par \tab yearning for the black depths in the \par \tab currents of the goddess. \par \cf0\par }