For my love at the time of our ceremony
I pray for us
as evening glides over
implore the gods
pray for us pray
for this breathing
planet the milky way
dreams us
into galaxy
no need for heaven this
is how it started:
way out beyond we
below
the sweet of your lips
dipped in promise
anxieties claim us
bark and skin
what we cannot remember
we give birth
to
“we have poetry so we
will not die
of history”
only
we are trees
live underwater
howl with want
this is how 2 women in
their 60s
I could say
this is how it started:
there was a shoreline
crisp as fresh white sheets
a movement of clouds
a duvet even
I longed for you before
it was
I heard you calling me
this is how 2 women
in their 60s
suck breath
as plants
clear away carbon
dioxide
fertilize oxygen
we are bodies of water
merging continents
the slippage of time
Harlem and Lagos and
London
how Haiti shadows
desire
we search for
definition across the
musk of blackness
I want to say
this is how it started:
there was a mystery
it begged
to be stroked
Source: Poetry (July/August 2024)