Poetry by Grace Wood

Woman Love

The first woman I loved,
Was a slumber party dare.
Giggling, we faced each other,
Bare-faced and clean
In bright floral checked pajamas.
Her lips parted soft enough
To touch mine,
And my skull went glittery.
I hardly slept that night,
Wrapped awake in my sleeping bag
Like a glowing chrysalis,
Waiting to hear a sigh, a turn,
A hand reaching out.

The second was a cellist,
Hair curling like tulip petals,
Above a white halter-neck dress,
Clasping my breath.
In her room, we played a game,
Touching each other’s legs
Higher, higher, higher,
Until we laughed, then didn’t.
Our kiss was so deep,
My inhale was her exhale.
My nose bled, we realized, later,
When poppies bloomed in her lap.

The other women I loved
Smelled of chocolate, chai, citronella, chlorine,
Always a bit of sweat.
I would do strange things for them—
Drink too early,
Swim too late,
Give more than I received.
My dreams of these women
Are filled with green plants
Growing around our footprints,
Children racing each other in sunlight,
Dappled rivers, sandy shores,
Forgetting to make dinner.

Bio
Grace Louise Wood is a British-Jamaican writer, artist, educator, traveler and yoga teacher. She has been living and working in Ghana since 2018, running education programmes for the UK government, and writing poetry in her free time. She is an Alumni of Barbican Young Poets. Her poems have been published in ‘Human Parts’ on Medium, Drama Queens Ghana COV-19 Zine 2020, and Tampered Press 5th Issue. She performs her poems at events in Ghana, most recently at Ehalakasa Talk Party in March 2021. Her poems can be found on Medium https://medium.com/@glw_89