the unshakeable black feminist anthem
for post-earthquake sisters in Haiti and the Dominican Republic
the world falls upon us
already broken
bones crack the faultlines
our flesh disappears
already broken
the ground wants to eat us
our flesh disappears
into fertilized canefields
the ground wants to eat us
the sky wants to scream
in fertilized canefields
our sweet blackness burns
the sky wants to scream
and the ocean is waiting
our sweet burning blackness
our salt into steam
the ocean is waiting
our bones crack the shoreline
our salt steaming upward
the world falls on us
On Capacity Building
-For MUDHA and CONAMUCA
how much can you hold
how much spirit
how much silence
how much spite
how many dead sisters and mothers
in the belly of your day
how you hold yourself in the mirror
how you hold yourself back
how you hold in your gut
your body against the wall
of this work
slammed against the truth
of what hate is
and who drinks it
and who bottles it
and who recycles it
and who spits it
in your face
how you metabolize mourning
into meaning
how you hold hands with the younger ones
scared to death they will not survive
scared to waking
that they will.
