Poetry

I am the living mother

            holding out for 24-hour grain of rice

swaddled before hemorrhage; 24-hour spent
[…]

Some things you never know until
an immigrant tells you, like how his ghost
means an owl in your language & […]

to keep people in,
            out,       birds off.
In winter,
pigeon has to settle for a branch […]

Here in the United States
African-hyphenated-American means
we ourselves
are part of the problem we’re trying to solve […]

Again I escape the sun’s wide hands. I slump into the old brown
couch. I open my screen, again. Again, the women. Again […]

It’s useless casting scorn while being scorned

It’s useless marching through heaven with a chip of sky on your shoulder
It’s useless being an ocean with wings as big as the night […]

Dear Lord Thank You For This Food In The Name of Jesus.
We Are Your Servants & Live Our Lives In The Name of Jesus.

We Pray That You Will Cover Us In Your Hedge of Protection […]

It was tougher to drain the swamp than we thought,
home field advantage and all. The ocean got all up
in rivers. The insults were popping and brown water […]

I stand in the shallows near the Crockett waterfront.
My calves shine. March breathes hot against the cool

water. The King’s River scatters its tributaries over […]

No matter that he shouldn’t,
that the doctor has already told him where this has led,
where this is leading (we already know) […]