Excerpt from A Wreath for Emmett Till
Emmett Till’s name still catches in my throat,
like syllables waylaid in a stutterer’s mouth …
The Dimensions of the Milky Way
Behind the men’s dorm
at dusk on a late May evening …
Mama’s Promise
I have no answer to the blank inequity
of a four-year-old dying of cancer …
The House on Moscow Street
These men, these proud black men:
our first to touch their fingers to the sky…
Dusting
Thank you for these tiny
particles of ocean salt,
pearl-necklace viruses …
Daughters 1900
Five daughters, in the slant light on the porch,
are bickering. The eldest has come home
Drifter
Something says find out
why rain falls, what makes corn proud
why rain falls, what makes corn proud
Moonlily
Five daughters, in the slant light on the porch,
are bickering. The eldest has come home