The First Woman Architect
Who
was the first
woman architect / dragging
stone / splitting wood
fingernails raking through / dirt
Like an animal / [bearing]:
children
rock
fear
of long teeth / the predators
who wield them
How / the first
woman
architect bruised / herself
into boulders
/ dug or piled
is unknown
She spoke / with stone
spit dust
into clay / forged clay
into knives / to lead her wherever
long teeth do not hide
A house is only as good
as the hands
that bleed
the glue / shoring
up the walls
A mother lived
/ in the body
of a mother /
[ passing down her]
sins
fear
[strength]:
the bones of a blueprint
/ of a mirror: /
a mother
Erin Kae (Koehler) is a proud graduate of SUNY Geneseo class of 2015 and was born and raised outside of Rochester, NY. She was a poetry editor for Gandy Dancer Issue 2.2 and co-managing editor with Amy Bishop-Wycisk for Issue 3.2. The experience working on Gandy Dancer was one of the best of her college career: providing valuable leadership experience, strengthening her creative problem solving, and—best of all—gifting lifelong friends.