I Shall Call You, by Kimberly Satterfield
Well-Worn Salutations
You have so many names, 108?
What should I call you?
Great Mother, Divine Mother—
Using a well-worn salutation feels lazy.
How best to approach you?
Bow? Genuflect?
Wave a candle or ghee-lamp?
Shall I be terrified?
I’ve seen the pictures, your mouth dripping with blood,
severed heads, demons flying hither and yon.
I don’t want to piss you off.
The sages call you Slayer, Destroyer,
Lover of the Universe, Foremost, Form of Recollection
Embodiment of Truth.
Shall I call you Perennial Paradox?
You remind us of the inevitable,
these bodies decompose: dust to dust,
while you point us to an elusive ever after.
Shall I call you Bridge Between Spheres,
Uncharted Territory, Freedom from Holding On?
The Scriptures say:
Her feet cover the earth.
Her crown extends to the farthest reaches of the atmosphere.
Shall I call you Presence? Weaver of the Net?
The sages call you—
One who is the same, One who is always in motion,
Annihilator of Too Much & Too Little.
Shall I call you Equalizer? Keeper of Opposites? Direct Hit?
You who are of red hue, loose hair,
adorned by silk garments & red flowers—
the Beautiful One of the Gods, Eternal.
I shall call you Confounder of My Mind, Open Palm.
I shall call you Home.
I shall call you.
Kimberly Satterfield's second book, Reflections of the Long Light, Poem & Images, a collaboration with her husband, the painter Foad Satterfield, will be published in March 2024. Her first book, Voices from the Field, published in 2014, is a reflection on her twenty years as a social worker for Alameda County in California and her experience as a primary caregiver for both of her parents. Her chapbook, My Life in the Downstream, explores metaphysical principles. Kimberly’s work has appeared in Milvia Street, Gathering 11, Oakland Multicultural Journal, Street Spirit, Tuxedo, In Other Words and in the anthologies How to Begin, The pencil Writes the Dream, and The Gathering 11. She is a long-time member of writing groups Fresh Ink and Hillygalz.
