I know
I know the world will not slow down no matter how fiercely I stretch my fists to the sun / I know the fire next time is now I know that all the babies are mine that we are all homeless if one is sleeping on the street / I know that I come from a people who will out walk a lie on broken toes who will fight back beyond the very end / And I know how to pray I know I am always praying no matter the words you think you hear I am always in conversation with Spirit / 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 know there are moments we have to decide to be as beautiful as we really are / Because being beautiful is a decision kindness is a decision poetry is a decision getting out of bed is a decision love is a decision / I know that we are the most resilient and fragile and fabulous history has known / I know that we are a denim people who clean up well in the wash who are focused and afraid / I know that we have swallowed our and fear and rage and joy long enough / I know that we do not fit in or out that we are heavily hued and magical textured and raw / That we are roar and whisper and breathy and intuition and fire / We are body people drumming and bass people wood and sand flame and chocolate of all these hues / I know the bravery it takes to hang on to hope / I know that I will take my last breath one day this is not an if before I do I'm gonna tell these stories 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 nothing to do with me except they know I know how to get a prayer through and a story straight / I know the further we separate ourselves from each other 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 walking around on your feet with your hands and thighs / Those are my knees and teeth / these are your lips and lungs / I know that we are all one / what does it matter all this good I have if heavy on your mind so muddy you can't inhale longer than you blink / what good are fancy dresses and red bottom shoes if they 'bout to cut off her father's feet / I know sometimes the clouds get low I know there are days I feel stuck in a mass of sadness and fear and anxiety sudoku 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 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 prayed over by a greasy hand man with a handkerchief 'cross his forehead I know that / I now food ain't free but I know how to cut mine in four so we can all eat I know it's up to you I know it's up to me / I know I am learning how to forgive I know that forgiveness does not mean stories won't rise but I know how to let them out same one by one way they got in there / I know that we are wonderful I know that we forget how wonderful we are / 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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