midnite confessions
by dawn lezlie brown
the quiet is loud like footsteps
creeping in from deeds better left in the
places where faithful feminine hearts
and visions of laughing sons and daughters
have no place
and it is in this space
(loud, except for my quiet musings)
that i sing u songs thru lips
that long to learn the lesson
hidden in the small of your back
only to reteach it to u
on your ebony eyelids
in the comers of your own lips
on the soles of your timb-clad feet
in the palms of your poet’s hands
i sing u songs with a voice
fearful at times of its own sound
so, it plays like fingers,
tapping out staccato rhythms of
electric impulses
that fill page after page
with pictures from my soul
and i, like a tentative child of five,
rediscover refrigerator magnet memories
(u could be as fiin as finger paints
and as exciting as gold stars)
and i want the comfort and the soothing calmness
daydreaming within u
so i try
in the midst of everynite to sing love out of its reverie...
...is it working?
ODE ON A GRECIAN URN:
A REVEALING
by Gyendor N. Wahsal
It is better, by far,
to yearn for love’s quieted surety;
to perish,
languished and frozen,
in the fractured moment
of its heated wanting
than to bum for love;
to die wallowing
in the shallow
shattered moment
of its happened,
spent, and extinguished
flame.
BLACK WOMAN
by Martez L. Evans
Sexy, black, beautiful,
you look so good to me
I love the way you move your head
when you have an attitude
The shape of your lips,
the curves of your hips,
the way you switch when I’m look’in
BLACK WOMAN
Like no other,
bold, proud, and beautiful,
history of Queens;
For every good BLACK WOMAN
is the best black man’s dream
BLACK WOMAN
Enduring, daring, and strong
keep your black man guided,
on the right path
Because, BLACK WOMAN
you are the mother
and keeper of our black seed
RT.ACK WOMAN
I of many skin tones, as of lace
each one I want to drape across my body
RT.ACK WOMAN
Once my heart beat inside of you
now I’m grown I need me a BLACK WOMAN
to make my heart pound stronger
BLACK WOMAN
To share my pain, and my joy;
nothing more than life itself,
that I need more than you
BLACK WOMAN
Take my hand and help me nse
for every great black man,
is a BLACK WOMAN, by his side.