April 2023

 





         a shotgun above every
           door where I grew up
             I did not mean to
               get her ashes
                 on my shoes
                   I will wait
                     to walk in
                      the rain
                      refusing
                      to exert the
                    stress of time
                 everyone envied
              everyone’s shotgun
          behind their backs
     our favorite game
  when I was a baby
was to throw me
  off the roof
    then...

Mayhap—what
a curious word,
all misfortune and
circumstance or pure
terror (as soon as fate
gets her hand
on the string). Why
do we need free will,
anyway? What is this
beautiful freedom
we long for, then promptly
grow bored within?
I meant to say
perhaps, but this
conjoined relic slipped out
instead. What was...

I watched Mommy
Cook
Though I cooked
With Grandmother

With Grandmother I learned
To pluck chickens
Peel carrots
Turn chittlins inside out
Scrub pig feet

With Mommy I watched
leftovers for stew
Or vegetable soup
Great northern beans
Mixed collards turnips and mustard greens
Garlic cloves Bay Leaves
Very beautifully green
Stiff   so fresh
With just a...