here is my last batch of #blackaugust575 haikus, haiku clusters. i’m so grateful for this month of practice in community. these are dedicated to the 31 prisoners i wrote letters to this month, to their lives and sacrifices.
I don’t want to see
sand eyes, blood pounding my head
we are all mirrors
I leap but don’t fly
close my eyes sipping lakeside
dancing the red light
you are a whole lie
you made of bricks and iron
I am a vapor
I am a rainbow
I’m a fucking miracle
I’m a tomorrow
we’re blocking the sun
small and so holy, magic
irresistible
– #blackaugust #blackaugust575 #charlottesville
I have all I need
My freedom runs all through me
Pounding out my heart
I have all I need
I’m the answer to a dream
That slipped through shackles
I have all I need
In the love of my people
And my solitude
I have all I need
Deep sleep, hard work, these love notes
And this gratitude
– #blackaugust575, #blackaugust #generatingabundance
most humans are trash
most of our long precious lives
faulty miracles
bars don’t mean a thing
the worst of us don’t get caught
never get punished
shit don’t work no way
what we deny of ourselves
becomes our prison
we must see ourselves
beyond the stench, shame and guilt:
the small beautiful
the sliver of good
the seed dropped in the garbage
that calls it compost
the bud that opens
bursts through the treacherous dirt
to stunt for one day
or the breathless kiss
that reaches through the madness
one taste of true love
or the crescent moon
of black people, surviving
knowing we are light
in this big strange world
where even trash has beauty
nothing is wasted
– #blackaugust #blackaugust575 #watchinghumansandhurricanes
I have no children
just scars across my belly
where spirit tried it
I love children tho
whichever womb they spring from
I make worlds for them
in each prisoner
a small child, a beloved
still yearns to be held
– #blackaugust #blackaugust575 #scars
there are no answers
there is only mystery
only tomorrow
we made it this far
for the entire future
we’ll show up again
love is this table
wrapped around with black women
who keep showing up
love’s a movement child
passed from auntie lap to lap
face soft with laughter
we pick up our load
carry it all our lifetimes
blessing in the heft
– #blackaugust #blackaugust575 #m4bl
cast protection spells
all around our broken hearts
the journey is long
call on the river
move between us, move through us
take these tears to sea
and when the flood comes
let’s make islands of ourselves
somewhere there’s a shore
cast protection spells
our fire is still so young
living on our prayers
– #blackaugust575 #blackaugust #ants #interdependence #spellsforanewamerica
I miss your poems
comrades warriors my loves
I need your poems
– #blackaugust575 #blackaugust
sweetest beloveds
thank you for all your poems
black August for life
we do not forget
our comrades behind the wall
we’ll never forget
– #blackaugust575 #blackaugust