The standing talls raise their finest ochre hues
skyward
and let them spiral gracefully
to earth —
like Inanna’s seven veils.

It’s how we wolfwomen know
to follow Ereshkigal’s sacred call
into blue-black depths
in search of epic ballads
that carry our wild hearts
to their true home.

Do you hear it, too,
whispered sotto voce
by the ghosts
of our untamed grandmothers,
who sung their soul songs
into dark, loamy woods,
knowing we would follow?

We must capture
those shamanic melodies
of wizened wisdom
in the folds of our being,
because we, too,
must release
our elemental music
onto the wings of cooling winds.

[Living in Happy Valley, Michele Mekel wears many hats of her choosing: writer and editor; educator and bioethicist; poetess and creatrix; cat herder and chief can opener; witch and woman; and, above all, human. Her work has appeared in various academic and creative publications, including having her poetry selected and read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac. She is also a co-principal investigator for the Viral Imaginations: COVID-19 project (viralimaginations.psu.edu). Michele can be found on Instagram @ShaktiEnergy.]