Feel it

It was when I read poetry

that I found the Aunties and other Mama’s who knew me

it was as if they laid their hands upon me.

It was their in their voices, there in the resonance of words

Their deep sigh for me between the lines

to guide my steps

Space for me to write me

I imagine I had not lived an authentic moment

till I felt the word of Maya* or

mm-hm-ed the vex of Sapphire*

Stuck between the cracks of Englands creases

If you truly pressed them out you'd be sick for two bicentenaries

I'm not ready for that kind of sick alone

No, I need to find succor

in the symphonic stutters of Sister Sonia* 
and the cradle of Jean*

A Caribbean swing low - what comes down

Must come up again cos that is how we are designed

And these phrases

these sweet stanzas that hold my small hands

are woven between the long nights

the abuse and the made-it-through-another-day blues

portioned to go round everybody

cos a black woman doesn't know how to do anything but love

then reproach herself when blue became a long night

and red was the colour tears

and her tongue taste like the thorns of white roses

Poetry curls  petal curves and stick on a page

and warn ears and eyes against stinging winds

Poems wail and sting for you

So you don't have to

Feel it?  

Written by Zena Edwards© 


*Maya Angelou, Sapphire, Jean BInta Breeze, Sonia Sanchez