"Who the devil are you?"  - - "Not the devil, Mr. Sardust, but like him, I can open the gates to hell.  I'm Mordecai Sackett.  You ready to go?" [Mordecai Sackett] - Louis L'Amour

"Up to a point a person’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and changes in the world about them. Then there comes a time when it lies within their grasp to shape the clay of their life into the sort of thing they wish it to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune or the quirks of fate. Everyone has the power to say, "This I am today. That I shall be tomorrow." - Louis L'Amour

Mama Dog Upping Religion's Bitch

pine pitch
smeared smirks
women of the trees
in the safety of their salvation
upping religion's bitch

mama dog
with a four-tined
pitchfork snapping
her incisors, who the
hell is she?

all-that-is One
you meet her when
your mind focuses "team"
strewn with old harnesses and
hardened steel hitch components
forge-stamped Polytheistic-made
reborn to run,

you nip at her heels
summoning long-forgotten
god-given instincts for the chance
to live life for which you were bred
upping religion's bitch and expressing
gratitude for your meals...[Sage Sweetwater]

Amen.

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist