Take up the blood from the grass, sun.
Take it up.
These people do not thirst for it.
Take up the insect children that play in
...
First there was the earth in my mouth. It was there like a running stream, the July fever sweating the delirium of August, and the green buckling under the sun.
...
for Jay Wright
my ole man took me to the fulton fish market
we walk around in the guts and the scales
...
Beloved,
I have to adore the earth:
The wind must have heard
...
Vodu green clinching his waist,
obi purple ringing his neck,
Shango, God of the spirits,
whispering in his ear,
...
Up
from Msippi I grew.
(Bare walk and cane stalk
make a hungry belly talk.)
...
I
Neon stripes tighten my wall
where my crayon landlord hangs
from a bent nail.
...