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