#tonight by ladan osman

[babylon-crashing]

for another day full of poetry/ i’ll suggest

may the tide

that is entering even now

the lip of our understanding

carry you out

beyond the face of fear

may you kiss

the wind then turn from it

certain that it will

love your back may you

open your eyes to water

water waving forever

and may you in your innocence

sail through this to that

~ lucillie clifton, “blessing of the boats”

“If you can't be free, be a mystery.” ~ Rita Dove.

“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” ~ Audre Lorde.

“Sister! your foot's smaller / but it's still on my neck.” ~ Pat Parker.

“Justice don't mean nothin' to a/ hateful heart!” ~ June Jordan.

“B.D. women, sure you can't understand/ But they got a head like a sweet angel/ And they walk just like a natural man.” ~ Lucille Bogan

“We/ Jazz June/ We/ die soon.” ~ Gwendolyn Brooks.

“I will say:/ Most men are afraid of me, you know?/ Or, I will say:/ In my culture we do not take our men's names as our own/ You have nothing for me/ I have my own name/ I know/ now how this body works/ How it will never let a name go until it has taken it into the mouth and fed it to the breath/ I still know by heart." ~ Safia Elhillo.

“We're flawless, ladies. Tell 'em/ say, ‘I look so good tonight’/ God damn, God damn, God damn.” ~ Beyonce.

“Sappho was a right-on woman.” ~ bumper sticker.

“The woman who takes a woman lover lives dangerously in patriarchy.” ~ Cheryl Clarke.

“The pastor makes twenty-four/ references to hell / in the sermon at church and forgets/ to talk / about love." ~ Yrsa Daley-Ward.

“How to dance in blood and remain sane?” ~ Sonia Sanchez.

"you can't make homes out of human beings/ someone should have already told you that / and if he wants to leave/ then let him leave / you are terrifying/ and strange and beautiful/ something not everyone knows how to love." ~ Warsan Shire.

“Thick thighs save lives.” ~ Lizzo.

“Mandy Lee Jones does her vampin’ at night,/ And she never gets home till it's comin' daylight./ Old Uncle Bill came 'bout half-past ten,/ Put the key in the hole, but he couldn't get in.” ~ Clara Smith.

“You judge a woman/ by what she can do for you alone/ but there’s no need/ for slaves to have slaves.” ~ Essex Hemphill.

"I want to say 'Be!' to her but am an ordinary soul./ I watch for the fold under her eye to twitch. / I have many dreams, I say to her./ In my dreams I am better than myself." ~ Ladan Osman.

SIBLINGS Hurricanes, 2005

Arlene learned to dance backwards in heels that were too high. Bret prayed for a shaggy mustache made of mud and hair. Cindy just couldn't keep her windy legs together. Dennis never learned to swim. Emily whispered her gusts into a thousand skins. Franklin, farsighted and anxious, bumbled villages. Gert spat her matronly name against a city's flat face. Harvey hurled a wailing child high. Irene, the baby girl, threw pounding tantrums. José liked the whip sound of slapping. Lee just craved the whip. Maria's thunder skirts flew high when she danced. Nate was mannered and practical. He stormed precisely. Ophelia nibbled weirdly on the tips of depressions. Philippe slept too late, flailing on a wronged ocean. Rita was a vicious flirt. She woke Philippe with rumors. Stan was born business, a gobbler of steel. Tammy crooned country, getting the words all wrong. Vince died before anyone could remember his name. Wilma opened her maw wide, flashing rot.

None of them talked about Katrina. She was their odd sister, the blood dazzler.

~ Patricia Smith

#favorite poets #suggestions #poem #poetry #teachers #mystics #friends

[morningtown]

Tonight

I play dress-up in my own clothes 

We toss squares between us — the mirror and I 

it giggles as I braid its nothing hair it sings

There are many kinds of darkness, and some of them are yours

Mother is here, gliding  She crosses the living room 

dressed as fir trees in a melted lake.

I am to be painted naked in a field 

of golden grasses, dark brocade 

and my bare ass in the sun  The light 

would like it known the light 

would like to ice me like a cake. 

There is thimble and thread, I think 

glowing in dust from the firelight

As velvet nears I wind and wind 

the thread I think around my sewing finger 

until the tip turns blue I tap it and 

pray over the grooves it unwinds 

and takes with it as tracks in the snow.

In the mirror the crone takes me up 

where I stand in ivory lattice knuckle and 

bone  She says Here, pet: life is sweet and

slips a ruby through the skin of my palm.

#poetry #stoned #inspiration: #tonight by ladan osman