mademoiselle

 

 

 

In the sixth grade there was a falsetto

in the Black church that's so very hard

to write about now. That's the one good

reason why the neighbors shun me. My

tomatoes are as large as moons, and to the

hillside, just as tender. This year,

church is where the women go to

pray for husbands, for fathers for their

3 kids. And although no such person

exists, they return each day with the

tall Aretha Franklin hats and mauve

scarves in winter.            Faith is

 

knowing that death is the gospel truth; my

uncle bought a Cadillac each year of his life

because he knew the bad heart would come

calling, and as he lay inaudible  on Easter,

but still knowing my name, a cemetery plot

had been purchased in the seventies when

everybody was alive, even the original

Temptations/ but why the ash of adulthood

when we still wanted to be beautiful and not

the way of roses or selected poems, but beautiful.

And don't pretend you don't know what it means

when we spend each Saturday morning washing

our intimates in algae oceans and craving carbs.

I read today that there are numb spots on the backs

of witches for mythical reasons perhaps, or to

admit to parasitic protozoans before being carried

to the pyre

 

and who knew that there was something fantastic

about endings, when we think about the

extreme distance to get there and then,

as evidence of getting there, old men remove their

hats. I've been told that somewhere in the Bible

it says that every man should take a wife, unless

she's the devil of footprints. Ego finds, each time, a way

to survive.

 

Every time.

 

 

Reviews

[emmajoy]

I've had to read this twice, and to be honest, slightly puzzled, no, quite puzzled because your words take me in so many directions. Seems you're having a conversation any stray listeners about the way your world is, how it touches you and your past, the people you know, love, don't love.. and how others should observe you in a parallel place to yours.. perhaps. This is a fascinating piece of writing, deserves another visit or two.. i'll be back

[Corset]

unless she's the devil of footprints, LOL! You slay me my friend, what would I do without you?

[K. Louis]

truuuuuue dat! every time every time.

[_mal]

You are amazing. Truly original and fresh work beautifully written

[kmartell]

you took me to the world, what imagistic cabalistic night talk this is, beautiful