who they look like. me. to lose love that way. to have to watch them be opened like that. all the way down to their mouths. time will never know my skin. wild with everything and nothing but them. i sang into their blood. each and every one of them have my voices in their bones. they will come home. i know they will come home. the whole sky had to hold me when the world came to eat my children. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. that fear. that pain. wake up my loves. into me. i will come to you every night. every single night. because you do not understand your nose. or your feet. or the boats in your eyes. you do not remember me. and you suffer. you suffer. you suffer. you suffer. you suffer. you suffer. you suffer. you suffer. swept with banzo. swept with banzo. swept with banzo. you suffer. you hate yourself. you hate me. this is death for a mother. how many deaths. i am your mother. i am your mother. i am your mother. i am your mother. i am your mother. i am your mother. i am your mother. i am your mother. i am your mother. i am your mother. remember me. remember me. remember me. my hands in your heart. i will not let you go. i will find you. worlds away from me. i am your beauty. i am you. no matter how much bleach you must drink. every night i will come into you and repair. relove. undo everything that is not me. i memorized you. i will walk over all waters to come and get you. bring you back to me. they do not know. they do not know. they do not know. they do not know. they do notknow. they do not know. they do not know. they do not know. they do not know. they do not know. they do not know. they do not know. they do not know. they do not know. they do not know. they do not know i put salt in each one of your skin. each and every one of your skins. they do not know that salt preserves not only fruit. but children. you will remember. you will remember. you will remember. you will remember. you will remember. you will remember. you will remember. you will remember. you will remember. you see. my love. you see how your body is beginning to slow glow with stars. you are remembering. you are mine. you have never been anything else.
–– africa's lament
these are not tears.
this is the sea.
–– tides
never
trust anyone
who says
they do not see color.
this means
to them
you are invisible.
–– is
when i am afraid to speak
is when i speak.
that is when it is most important.
–– the freedom in fear
what i never
learned
from my mother
was that
just because someone desires you.
does
not mean they value you.
desire is the kind of thing that
eats you
and
leaves you starving.
–– the color of low self esteem
being in love with my people
does
not mean i hate others.
how ridiculous is that.
–– self
i am relieved.
when
i see the feminine presence
in a man’s eyes.
it means
he is a peace
i do not
have
to
bring to him.
–– ease
apologize to your body.
maybe
that’s where the healing begins.
–– starting
the most
gorgeous thing
on
a human being.
vulnerability.
–– want
put
some salt in that honey.
warm it up.
heal.
–– stove
a black woman
can write of
loneliness.
or
love
or softness.
or the moon.
you may try valiantly
to cripple her
but she will still grow flowers in her flesh.
–– a genocide of flowers
you blush like an ocean in love.
wild with blueness.
–– yemanja
i have always been the woman of my dreams.
open
your eyes.
even if
the
sun wants them.
–– see
audre wrote
of
the
‘secret poetry.’
we all know
this
poetry.
lining our arms.
rusting our teeth.
walking through our hair.
feeding
our wild stomach.
soothing
our
mouth
Missy Tippens, Jean C. Gordon, Patricia Johns