Wednesday, June 19, 2013

A poem a day for 2013 - day 170 - poem 2 - Easy like morning



I know the world will not slow down 
No matter how fiercely 
I stretch my fists to the sun

I know how to pray
I am always praying
No matter my physical position
No matter the words you think you hear
I am always in conversation with Spirit
Because that's how we do it
We converse like two old women
On a Mississippi wooden porch
Chipped paint
Head scarves 
Sweet tea
Dogs barking at strangers 
Flies at our feet
I know God like that
Don't you

I will take my last breath one day
This is not an if
Before I do I wanna tell these stories 
So shut up in my bones
I drag around like wet towels sopping up
Tears my grandmother's mother's mother passed down
Stories that come to me in the night from folks 
I don't know
Ain't got nothin' to do with me 
'Cept they know I know how to get a prayer through
And a story straight

Like I know my own toenails 
I am sure that the only thing that matters is love
I know that the further we separate ourselves from love
Is the further we separate ourselves from ourselves
You think I don't know my own face when I see it
You think I ain't walkin' 'round on your feet
With your hands and thighs
Those are my knees my teeth
These are your lips and lungs
I know that we are all one

So busy lying on God 
As if a being so great would hate itself enough
To divide into two
Three 
Ten
Fifteen 
Twenty
Twenty-five
Thirty
All around my base is it
Let me touch you
Feel my fingers so wiggle inside your skin
There is no place I start or you end
Go put some jeans on
Some Chucks 
A thrift shop shirt
We can walk around like twins
Who you flossin' for

I don't know everything
But I know that getting back to the basics
Is the best business at hand
I know we are nothing without each other
What it matter all this good I got
If heavy on yo mind so muddy 
You can't inhale longer than you blink
What good are my fancy dresses 
And red bottom shoes
If they 'bout to cut off her mama's feet
We can't laugh over tea

I know that these arms are for building
For tearing down bridges and stretching across waters
I know I spent tears headachin' about folks walkin' over me
Till I looked up to find my back was their only pathway through
I am not rag for filthy feet
But I know that I am strong enough to carry 
The next soul in need
Even if that one is me

I know sometimes the clouds get low
I know there are days I feel stuck in a mass of 
Sadness and fear and anxiety suduku my brain so math
I forget the numbers to dial
But I know how to reach
I know how to be still
I know how to rock and sing
I know how to cry
I know how to remember how good God been to me
I know how to wave hand
I know how to give thanks
I know how close eyes
I know how to know that clouds pass
I know ain't none of this easy
So I know how to give you me
When clouds come to you

I know therapy sessions should be held at
Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles
Over grits and eggs and fish
Prayed over by a greasy hand man with a handkerchief in his pocket
I know that

I know food ain't free
But I know how to cut mine in fours 
So we can all eat
I know it's up to me
I know it's up to you

I know I am learning how to forgive
I know that forgiveness does not mean 
Stories won't rise up
I know how to let them out
Same one by one way they got in there

I know that I am wonderful
I know that I forget how wonderful I am
I know how to remember the next time I do
I know to open my eyes
And look right into you

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