deep in the smothering blackness
white tears icicle gold plains of her face
She came home running
She came down creeping
here to the black arms waiting
now to the warm heart waiting
rime of alien dreams befrosts her rich brown face
She came down creeping
She came home blameless
black yet as Hagar’s daughter
tall as was Sheba’s daughter
threats of northern winds die on the desert’s face
She came home blameless
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FOR BAILEY
Of blood and loneliness beforeThe first snows fellBefore muddy rivers seeded cloudsAbove a virgin forest, andMen ran naked, blue and blackSkinned into the warm embracesOf Sheba, Eve and Lilith.I was your sister.You left me to force strangersInto brother molds, exactingTaxations they neverOwed or could ever pay.You fought to die, thinkingIn destruction lies the seedOf birth….
They have spent their
holding their lips thisand that way, windingthe lines betweentheir brows. Old folksallow their bellies to jiggle like slowtambourines.The hollersrise up and spillover any way they want.When old folks laugh, they free the world.They turn slowly, slyly knowingthe best and the worstof remembering.Saliva glistens inthe corners of their mouths,their heads wobbleon brittle necks, buttheir lapsare filled…
Beloved,
Have I known your lipsYour HandsYour Laughter braveIrreverent.Those sweet excesses thatI do adore.What surety is thereThat we will meet again,On other worlds someFuture time undated.I defy my body’s haste.Without the promiseOf one more sweet encounterI will not deign to die.
A Rock, A River, A Tree
Mark the mastodon.The dinosaur, who left dry tokensOf their sojourn hereOn our planet floor,Any broad alarm of their of their hastening doomIs lost in the gloom of dust and ages.But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,Come, you may stand upon myBack and face your distant destiny,But seek no haven in my shadow.I…
Her arms semaphore fat triangles,
Where bones idle under years of fatbackAnd lima beans.Her jowls shiver in accusationOf crimes clichéd byRepetition. Her children, strangersTo childhood’s toys, playBest the games of darkened doorways,Rooftop tag, and know the slick feel ofOther people’s property.Too fat to whore,Too mad to work,Searches her dreams for theLucky sign and walks bare-handedInto a den of bureaucrats forHer…
You may write me down in history
You may tread me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I’ll rise.Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wellsPumping in my living room.Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,Just like hopes springing high,Still I’ll rise.Did you want to see me broken?Bowed head…