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“Poetry puts starch in your backbone so you can stand, so you can compose your life.” — Maya Angelou
- Maya Angelou
Lord Byron
- Dorothy Parker
Mandy Coe
Resignation |
Nikki Giovanni
I love you
because the Earth turns around the sun
because the North wind blows north
sometimes
because the Pope is Catholic
and most Rabbis Jewish
because winters flow into springs
and the air clears after a storm
because only my love for you
despite the charms or gravity
keeps me from falling off this Earth
into another dimension
I love you
because it is the natural order of things
I love you
like the habit I picked up in college
of sleeping through lectures
or saying I’m sorry
when I get stopped for speeding
because I drink a glass of water
in the morning
and chain-smoke cigarettes
all through the day
because I take my coffee Black
and my milk with chocolate
because you keep my feet warm
though my life a mess
I love you
because I don’t want it
any other way
I am helpless
in my love for you
It makes me so happy
to hear you call my name
I am amazed you can resist
locking me in an echo chamber
where your voice reverberates
through the four walls
sending me into spasmatic ecstasy
I love you
because it’s been so good
for so long
that if I didn’t love you
I’d have to be born again
and that is not a theological statement
I am pitiful in my love for you
The Dells tell me Love
is so simple
the thought though of you
sends indescribably delicious multitudinous
thrills throughout and through-in my body
I love you
because no two snow flakes are alike
and it is possible
if you stand tippy-toe
to walk between the raindrops
I love you
because I am afraid of the dark
and can’t sleep in the light
because I rub my eyes
when I wake up in the morning
and find you there
because you with all your magic powers were
determined that
I should love you
because there was nothing for you but that
I would love you
I love you
because you made me
want to love you
more than I love my privacy
my freedom my commitments
and responsibilities
I love you ‘cause I changed my life
to love you
because you saw me one Friday
afternoon and decided that I would
love you
I love you I love you I love you
Unfortunate Coincidence
I told Susan Reyna |
Sandra Cisneros
I told Susan Reyna
I don’t like her
because she’s fat and ugly
and she wears big brassieres
and smells like chocolate candy
and comes in late each morning
with her tongue puff puffing
and her wrinkled blouse
half in half out
and who probably stole
Walker Milky’s money
and never gives back pencils
just sleeps all day
while we do numbers
or all the time in a red pen
she got for her birthday
writes Susan Susan Susan
in fancy letters
The nun says
we must be kind
to everyone
or rot in fires
including Susan
who is sick
and has the fits
till she gets tired
then two boys
have to hold her legs
down and one girl her dress
and she gets to sleep all day
and wakes with crumpled hair
and spit
This
is who I told
I don’t like you
because you stink
of chocolate
and menstruation
and who is sick
already 48 hours
but I don’t care
Crooked Afro |
Frank X Walker
daddy don’t smile
when you ask ‘bout
uncle jay
my favorite
drunk or sober
unk got bookoo years
fo’ shootin’
a man
inna club
some say
he didn’t do it
that he took the rap
for his brotha
my father
who had three of us
in diapers
this man’s man
had already done time
in ‘nam
wasn’t back but a minute
when this other
tour of duty
called
but when he tripped home
one easter
to his father’s funeral
and stood at the coffin in cuffs
the music stopped
when we welcomed him back
he came to the party
without his dancing shoes
his record skipping
singing a song
that old lovers
and ex teammates
had already put up in the attic
now half of him
and a crooked afro
roam the streets
and alleys
borrowing just enough
for another bottle
to make love to
hoping to find somebody
who still listens
to Isaac hayes or
little stevie wonder
on eight tracks
and remembers when
he could just take over a game
if the bate bulldogs
were behind
and the cheerleaders
called his name
daddy don’t smile
when you ask ‘bout uncle jay
and some of us
still cry
when he tries to dance
