Good Friday
Mama says I’m killing Jesus
again every time I return home
and hand her a check from another
man. She sees my skin oily
from his sweat. In my dreams,
the three footed serpent tells me
my body belongs to him &
I hear lamentations
from my dead father’s wisdom tooth:
it is still soiled from an uproot.
We don’t need the money anymore she says.
He’s dead and my tomatoes are selling well.
But how do I retrace my steps
to the tomb for resurrection?
How do I return my body to myself?
Afua Ansong is a Ghanaian American artist who writes poetry and teaches contemporary and traditional West African dance. Afua is currently working on several projects about the migration of humans and birds. Her work can be seen or is forthcoming in The Seventh Wave, Maine Review, Oxford Poetry, and other magazines as well as on her blog theeyeofalion.blogspot.com.