How does hiking make me feel;
My thick thighs trembling
with
each
step
crashing against each other
Sweat starting, pricking my scalp
Down the back of my neck
My back
Glowing on my rounded shoulders, glinting on collarbones
Long hair like a veil sweeping it away
I like my own smell
My own odeur
The primal scent
Mixing with the sunscreen that is sliding off, never enough
Until I am nut brown,
Freckled
On my shoulders
My forearms bronze
Saying hello to every
Rock
Tree
Mushroom
Bird
Animal
Like they are old friends
(they are, my inner animist says)
You have known them before you were born and you will know them after you die and you will know them
forever.
When I menstruate during a hike
I feel
Female with a capital F
Part of a cosmic womanhood
Embraced and swallowed by the
Earth
Small
Insignificant
Strong
But
Easily crushed
Like the insects I swat away
Little drops of blood swelling, given to the Earth
I am She and She is Me and we are together intertwined in the woods
