Taylor Franson-Thiel
Intuition
Growing up under a mountain's foggy wings
Our mothers told us stories of our ancestry.
Women who, wandering, happened upon
towering mother bears and knew to show
their chests to the monarch as if to say
I too can suckle warriors. I too
have to hunt to keep my line alive.
And they all survived, unclawed.
But what if I always feel like there's a gun
pointed between my shoulder blades and a paw
at my throat? If hiding my chest feels safer
than having my body perceived? I never learned
when to roar and when to run. When to bare myself
before a woman who never had to question.
Bio
Taylor Franson-Thiel is a Pushcart nominated poet from Utah, now based in Fairfax, Virginia. She received her Master's in creative writing from Utah State University and is pursuing an MFA at George Mason University. Her writing frequently centers on the intersections between the female body, religion, and her experiences as a college athlete. You can find her work in places such as Psaltery and Lyre, Quarter Press, The Bangalore Review. Along with writing, she enjoys lifting heavy weights and reading fantastic books.