Chorus Read Free

forever.
    And sometimes nothing bad does either.
    Th is is my stop. Can we land now
    Bus driv e r?
    That old bridge exists in the reflection
    Of the new . Simply beautiful. I need
    To sleep somewhere like that.
    I need to wake up in the care of the sun.
    I need to feel safe with my eyes closed.
    I need to land. Like an alley cat.
    I paid my fare a million times.
    I am not a secret!!
    I am screaming
    Inside this shell.
    Time can’t find me here. No more
    Watches. Everybody watches.
    Watch me get off.
    Watch me get off.
    Watch me land.
    I got wings
    This bus got wings .
    Just put this baby in drive .
    And let’s fly
    Let’s exist together
    For the very first
    time.

11
    who told you
    you
    could
    expose
    your
    wings
    black girl
    don’t you know there is no room to evolve here
    no room to resolve fears
    dissolve tears
    back into the earth from wh ich y ou came
    your name(?)
    lucy(,)
    loosely
    considered hominoid
    human
    beautiful
    woman
    marvel at your buttocks
    and legs
    slim waist
    and breasts
    yet make child suckling illegal in public
    we need no remembrance
    of what we taught you to forget
    of heru and
    auset
    jesus and
    mary
    forbid to teach the babies
    that the messiah had a messiah
    and her name was
    Mama

12
    Despite your small victories
    you were built for digestion.
    There is a fire in your chest
    that will burn you in the right
    direction: follow it.
    Blind yourself
    with anything.
    It is the only way
    to walk properly;
    sightless stumbling over
    cobblestones, molars
    under your feet.
    Tonight, you are
    the offering.
    Every step taken
    is a minor rapture
    for your tongue,
    your nose, ears,
    and hands heightened
    by the surrendering
    of your pupils. Walk
    your heels skinless,
    until your blisters
    are just pads
    of pulp. And then, when you collapse,
    sprawled out like a starfish, you will love
    with your whole body.
    You will bleed the earth
    a sky.

13
    no one tells you
    if anyone does you do not listen anyway
    if you do still you do not understand
    no one tells you how to be free
    there is fire in your neck
    ocean in your ear
    there is always your fear
    the words you can not even
    no one is here
    when the world open s upside
    down you reach toward dawn
    your weight on the earth changes
    some of us plant deeper
    others ache to fly

14
    Hot wind spra y s sand in our eyes , and I know you’re still angry with me.
    To the west, Eden’s trees sway and the cool water washes sinner skin clean.
    Don’t worry love, you’ll be free of me soon.
    Babies’ blood upon my chin, sweet as pomegranate syrup. Oh, how many fetters
    wrought in love and unmade by lust, were soggy-skinned and tender.
    Fear not my love, you’ll be clean thi s afternoon.
    How you loved to weave the bonds and strap them to my belly. Now
    the heat of your anger scorches the plain, lamenting both hunger
    and its satiation. Don’t worry love, you’ll be free of me s oon.
    When our sons have a taste for their young, you ’ll remember me.
    Attributing a lineage of sin to your sister, though I only meant to
    bring you unburdened to your fate . Oh my dear one, remember this tune.
    Eve waits in the shadow of a fig tree, the virgin daughter.
    Her juices will still feel unclean on your fingers,
    Tasting not quite right. You’re impossible to please, just like your Father.
    Dearly beloved, this demon’s love for you was true ;
    Here you stand at Earth’s gate, I’ve carried you through!
    Lust and fire defeated, rem and me to the dunes;
    For all that I bore you, I’ll be free of you soon.

15
    It is fine to mourn the dead
    --- but this is not that poem.
    This for those we haven’t lost.
    This for those
    who couch surf until
    waves of hospitality cease cresting .
    Then, they crash
    on floors before
    they find another place,
    paddle over and pray
    the tide rises high
    enough to hang 10
    or h o we ver many days they can.
    This is for those
    wh ose disorganiz at ion
    was amusing and endearing
    until it