She fought slept under the white sheets
Parts of her flesh rebelling
Against the straight lines
Of their moonlit bed

He dreamt up a map
Of her unexplored territories
Knowing full well there wouldn’t be
Enough time to visit them all

“If only I had more time”
He though – and then he smiled
“She’d have more lands to explore,
She’s endless”

The sheets fluttered and levitated
A white arm appeared beneath them
Searching for him
So he went back in, to chart some more.

We map what we love,
our countries, our homes, our bodies
And we also map what we fear,
The infinite oceans of the earth and sky

That is why we map women
In our paintings, our poems, our songs
We map to find the way
From us to them, and back,
And back again.

Victor Alejandro Wainer,
Victoria, BC, 1st of January, 2024