sandra levy
The Tempest My Mother
Survived
She swam in floods
thick with madness –
mayhem on a magnitude
unimaginable, her love
submerged and swallowed
by a man who dictated
her desires, defined
her soft spaces
as a playground
to murder her mind
spit upon her spirit
empty her innocence
into the urinal
of his wild whims
until he was whisked away
by a tempest –
This is what saved her
Womb Soliloquy
I am a tender trusted home
refuge for miracles
I brew blood
twitch time
contract as violently
as Mt. Vesuvius
I carry potentiality
life and death and eruptions
shed the deceased
the unwanted
the yearned for
those who are not claimed
I am pottery for pain
music for mesmerizing love
men have failed for millennia
to control me, they slice me
out of bodies, pretend
I wander in hysteria –
but I am not witchcraft
or unbound, I am a steady song
our futures
juicy and raw
round and robust
blessed and bleeding
history burnished into my tissues
I am the carrier pigeon of culture
do you hear my rumble
do you see my pomegranate mouth
can you sing my cycles holy
can you touch my heated heart
Sandra Beth Levy (she/her) is a retired psychologist who passionately practiced psychotherapy for forty years and is now pursuing her dream of immersion in creative writing. She raised two biracial sons while honoring her Jewish-feminist identities. Her unique social and personal histories weave their way into her writing as she explores love, loss, aging, sexuality, and awe of nature. She has pieces with Anomaly Poetry, Small Gems Press, Arcana Poetry Press, A Curious Moon, The Vagabond’s Verse, SHINE, Viridine Literary, The Orange Rose, Red Rose Thornes, and forthcoming with The Poetry Lighthouse and Quillkeepers Press. Her debut poetry chapbook is in preparation for release in 2026.