In Dreams

This is my interpretation of a Bop poem. The style was created by Afaa Michael Weaver during a Cave Canem summer retreat. This Bop’s refrain comes from James Blake’s song “Our Love Comes Back” The accompanying music is composed by Jean-Michel Bernard from my favorite movie of all time, The Science of Sleep. Hope you enjoy.

Lighter Always in Dream

         And the question was posed,

then silence. To open my mouth seemed hollow

and when I did, my tongue refused to stir.

My eyes, instead, did the work.

And no one knew quite how to respond.

Though, I could hear them thinking        

         she’s from the future

I swirled in the deduction

Without making a sound

Towards the door

Through a portal

And into the open air - a field where the cool

blades graze my ankles

Long into dreams

About

Simplicity

and order

and I am

quick

Stripped down,

Unencumbered.

                                             2013

Possessions

The clouds shake thunder, raging and

rattling empty bowls

at the dinner table where grace is placed on crumbs and

clasped hands hold on for decent life

 slicing half moons onto

planets where the men, crater faced and gently orbiting,

are always in the know.

She is swollen with hunger

as if Botero's bristles tickled her thighs and left shadows

at her armpits and between her double chins.

The pearls between her breasts lack luster

but accentuate the longing in her eyes

and that spot on the sternum where he pushed in his hand, hard

before the mixture set

so she could never not be his again.

                           28 March '13