Monday, August 21, 2017

eclipsed

enter radical softness
a furry belly
my breasts are the best
I say to anyone asking
for a business card
enter depth of sorrow
ankle biting tyranny
of mind
looking for a good place
to nibble on an ear lobe
painted like a rain cloud


Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Houston

Knight

Lord she’s gone done left me done packed / up and split 
and I with no way to make her 
come back and everywhere the world is bare 
bright bone white    crystal sand glistens 
dope death dead dying and jiving drove 
her away made her take her laughter and her smiles 
and her softness and her midnight sighs— 

Fuck Coltrane and music and clouds drifting in the sky 
fuck the sea and trees and the sky and birds 
and alligators and all the animals that roam the earth 
fuck marx and mao fuck fidel and nkrumah and 
democracy and communism fuck smack and pot 
and red ripe tomatoes fuck joseph fuck mary fuck 
god jesus and all the disciples fuck fanon nixon 
and malcolm fuck the revolution fuck freedom fuck 
the whole muthafucking thing 
all i want now is my woman back 
so my soul can sing

Etheridge Knight, “Feeling Fucked Up” from The Essential Etheridge Knight. 
Copyright © 1986 by Etheridge Knight.