Sapphire Poems

I think everything in me has been broken. The shiny ceramic red heart
lies on the floor in shards, its light that used to flash electric now glows
steady in the dark. Outside the window I watch the souls of my mother
...

My sister tells me it was just an ordinary evening, but evening is never
ordinary is it? Once the sun has started to climb down the sky things
change. You and she were sitting in the den—the olive green vinyl
couch, sports trophies, new color TV, pictures of Kennedy and King we
...

I the ancient kingdom of Benin water was the realm
of the ancestors; it was seen as a mirror reflection
of the land of the living. So where is my father?
Is he waiting for me under the water.
Will he approve of me or beat me or love me,
...

Hate, black teeth, half an
eyeball, torn light, green grass, dirt
wings. Sick, blind angel.
...

„The dead," the doctor says, „are speaking to us."

some skeletons will be enclosed in a glass case
inside the church as a permanent reminder
...

Today is the day you have been waiting for
when you would finally begin to live
when you would at last open the door
...

I

She asks why we always
read books about black people.
(I spare her the news she is black.)
...