The Door
Remember when we first got here/ you said swim
in the dream it was heaven/ a thousand doors
sunk halfway in the brown and muddy river
Ohio hardwoods/copperheads and tadpoles
and running/turns out paradise is Earth
all that turning and clicking
all that blooming and dying/ and growing back up to sun
each door marked with moons spinning new to full
and again/ each opened another way/ another future
it was your job Mama to paint the moons/you brushed
black and white to wax and wane and me/
I was to gather/ all the pages from all the books
put them in the right heaven/knee deep and working
side by side/ all those days spinning
like You/ oh my beloved You /on your deathbed
dying and running with Bear/ over the green of forever
we are all that/growing on the banks
the shape of wind/ the sorrows/ drinking deep
and enough sun/ I can’t tell you this in words
the leaf cupped ear/ the eye on the horizon
with my door propped open to Heaven/
there is still so much light and dark trying to get in.
dedicated to Mama
Birthright
Only stories are true
each speck of dust, a tome
of turns and lilt, breathing cells
this blood and spit alone
can not tell it, no test can prove
we were here before, granddaughters
to this image, riding all those timelines
between sky and soil
all the way back to broken
not in that good way
not in that good, open
walk towards it way I so love
just torn apart without earth
a severed arm from your body
still dangling next to you
one is a zombie but which?
all those bloody hands
walking on the scattered land
the sun tips every upturned face
even the undead can be the moon
a bag of broken roots, thick as femur
bound together, dirt ties
I know it’s a false image
only lies are true
can we make it strong enough
this flesh our broom.
for Jennifer
Body Prayer
(from Murmurations)
Make of your body a sturdy home with wide oak floors
Make of your body a field, soft and green
where you can see the changing sky
Make of your body a city street, a pine trail
at night where you are safe
Make of your body a weapon that keeps you safe
but does not harm you
Make of your body lived history on the soles of your feet
the whorls of your fingerprints
Make of your body a forest of Deer
emerging from your breastbone
Make of your body the form of desire, the edge of grief
Make of your body golden joy, banked deep
Make of your body a sturdy home with wide oak floors
an Earthen door
that closes and opens
closes and opens
of your own free will.
dedicated to bell hooks
