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[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Temporal Transfix: Pt. 5

Temporal Transfix: Pt. 5

*Originally a poem of ten parts

8. If I were to travel and return

To what I was back in ‘02,

 A thing of five years aching

For a nap in the afternoon

And wondering why pencils 

Were so big and letters so small

But with memories of this present

Shoved through my ears,

I’d tell her to invest in Apple,

Tell her that the stock market

Is fallible, tell her that her…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Temporal Transfix Pt. 4

Temporal Transfix Pt. 4.

*A work of ten parts originally

6.       I wave a hand at

my reflection, and, after

a tic, she waves back.

7. You know she’ll leave eventually,

or you’ll leave,

if you’re fast enough.

The coming departure

stretching roots in your living,

stuffing its flowers under the couch

in coat pockets hanging in the closet,

 poked through white linen sheets

fold…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Temporal Transfix Pt. 3

Temporal Transfix Pt. 3

*A work of ten parts originally

4.       In the future I conceive

for myself, I wake mornings

to hear the chatter of early birds

and the nurturing soil grow

tomatoes and strawberries

in the garden out back. The breeze

knows me by name, sings the syllables

above watermelon patches and orange

trees. I sit on a porch I own and survey

what I have grown. I look at my…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Temporal Transfix Pt. 2

Temporal Transfix Pt. 2

*A work of ten parts originally

2:

Suppose linearity a hoax,

that time spins around the world

Overlapping shifting strings 

until the circles link and chain, 

Entrapping today on either side.

Were you aware ghosts

Were merely echoes

Of past, replaying

And engaging

The present to construct

A more shattered future?

Perhaps her echo

Lies in the…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Temporal Transfix Pt.1

*A work of ten parts originally

Prelude:

Dear infinity, I give my heart to you

as a well-wishing gift. You have survived

your identity chopped and separated

into three dying parts, and the ire

of children knowing only a piece

of you. There is a sweet secret

embedded in the darkness 

between planets, that one day 

those parts will find each other,

that they will…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

The Bus Ride Home

The Bus Ride Home

“And that’s how I got into the Raider’s game for free.”

The sporadic bumps of potholes flown over by the city bus enhanced the headache Bernie was getting as he was forced to listen to the bus passenger.

Said passenger was sitting haphazardly over the seat right behind Bernie, leaning around the divider between the rest of the vehicle and its driver to regale story after story.

The man,…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Dear Lady, I Feel

Dear Lady, I Feel

*mention of stillbirth, so caution

Lady Liberty, I feel for you.

Your honor has been questioned, your mission

gaslighted, and your children no longer know

your face. I feel for you, in that woman way,

in that way Cassandra saw the fall of Troy

Only for a man god to take her credibility.

Corporate gods laugh at you now.

“Can you even spell freedom, Lady?”

The fools…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

It's Enough

It’s Enough

It’s enough to want

enough to want, enough to want

Enough to watch the stars stickered

to the dark walls of the sky

and wonder if they rise and fall

to bring life to another blue marble,

enough to watch our own star rise

and think that on her lonely days

she sings to her sisters.

Enough to want, enough to want

Enough to feel cool brittle grass trace my back

and…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

The Modern Prophet

*This is dedicated to my roommate Alicia, who helped with the idea for this fiction

[warning: some cussing and a hint of sexual abuse towards the end]

The old hag was a bitch.

CJ glared down at the thin, brown hand outstretched toward him, its counterpart already clutching the fifteen dollars it took for the usual thirty-minute session. Only, the old hag was bumping the price to twenty. 

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Hair Wars

*In honor of my sister’s cat, who took over the house and our hearts in her time with us.

The cat hair is everywhere at my father’s house.

It sticks to my father’s sweater as he greets

me at the door, rises in the air as my sister

waves from the family couch, the follicles

parachuting down on the wind from her hand.

It’s in the rugs, in the furniture, swept up in the air

each…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Death of Authors

Death to me

For I choose a sleep

Of ages, the breed

All gods succumb to.

Fear may come to shrinking

Hands, but the pen swims steady

Between skinny blue waves

Of paper.

Symbols splatter

By my blood, wrenched free

From dying kidneys and aged

Livers have power to resurrect

Far out in tepid futures.

Lasting pen, my sister

Give the living gift

To written…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Untimely Mother

*Warning: child abuse toward the end; read with caution

Mary hated the woman for coming. Yes, it was she who had opened the door to the woman, Mary who bade her to sit down and drink coffee, and it was Mary who obeyed when the woman ordered her to get the baby. Still, she hated the woman for coming.

The woman taking up the easy recliner, forcing Mary to hold the baby on the kitchen stool…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Zeitgeist

Adam lies dead

And Eve retreats to the garden

Where the bunker waits.

The world spills over

Not for explosion of a star

Or for implosion of a core

But for clumsy evil born

From her depths.

Cast iron thistles circle

Free lands and prick ruined hands

Covered in muck, blood, grime,

And ownership lakes recognize

Up in lone star plains.

Children herd heavy stools

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Late Phone Call

I call my father last night

just to calm a need to know

the old man is out there,

 and he’s doing alright.

“I had lamb chops for dinner,”

that’s what he says into the speaker,

“With some rice and vegetables,

and a stash of chocolate for dessert.”

He says, “I’m doing just fine my girl.”

“Okay sure,” I play along,

“But me and my roommate

had cheap steaks with…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

She Speaks to Earth

She Speaks to Earth

Girl’s been speaking to the earth  

pebbled dirt between her toes,

Fresh blades of green grass singing 

In their language, the scattered

 trees dancing in theirs. 

She speaks with that ancient ghost 

The one that taught little girls 

How to grow and be mothers, 

Who birthed and raised volcanoes  

And wheat fields on her surface

 and loved her brood equally,

 who…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

Black Truths

Black People can’t swim.

Black People can’t [wear their hair the way God designed it].

Black People can’t [explain how it feels to be followed in a store].

Black People can’t [enter certain towns after sundown].

Black People can’t [stop the fear of handcuffs and shiny badges].

Black People can’t [trust cause we’ve been burned before].

Black People can’t [can’t escape ancestors…

[thingsunspoken-blackfeminist]

The Inevitable

My grandfather’s heart turned on him Saturday.

After the hour drive, the long wait in lobby,

The even longer string of waiting in the hospital

As the man in the white coat prescribes “more rest,” “more water,” and “no leaving today,” 

I exercise my will, take off and go home. 

Later walks in on me slumped on the toilet,

Pants scrunched at my shins as a cone of weed

Burns…