If a woman wants to be a poet,
she should run backwards
circling the volcano;
she should feel for the
movement along her faults;
she should not get a
Ph.D. in seismography.

If a woman wants to be a poet,
she should not sleep with
uncircumcised manuscripts;
she should not write odes
to her abortions;
she should not make stew
of old unicorn meal.

If a woman wants to be a poet,
she should read French cookbooks
and Chinese vegetables;
she should suck on French poets
to freshen her breath;
she should not m**turbate
in writing seminars.
If a woman wants to be a poet,
she should peel back the
hair from her eyeballs;
she should listen to the breathing
of sleeping men;
she should listen to the
spaces between that breathing.

If a woman wants to be a poet,
she should not write
her poems with a dildo;
she should pray that
her daughters are women;
she should forgive her
father for his bravest sperm.

SAS