from The Common Woman Poems

the common woman is as common

as good bread

as common as when you couldn’t go on

but did.

For all the world we didnt know we held in common

all along

the common woman is as common as the best of bread

and will rise

and will become strong—I swear it to you

I swear it to you on my own head

I swear it to you on my common

woman’s

head

     ending lines of “VII. Vera, from my childhood”
     from The Common Woman Poems