maybe i'll go
                     go all hard and wiggly
when the bread of earth is suffocated
perfectly the surly bending twig,
my follicle of sheathing mortar
     and you.ll be soundly
quiet too
and you,ll love me more than god
and maybe
                     together
our softs will blunder
irrevocably against the sun
who's on our in's
our outs
                 and stapled on the supple
tweed of grass and laughter
(our fingers in the earth
  the righteous
     who think with hearts
       of copper vermilion hush
         ) i'
ll                 call you heaven
                and you;ll just
      just
                  just
                               just
              just
  just                                       just
                 just
                              just



          just









                 t       s                               u                                          j

One nice, hot, long bath...

To melt from my skin,
All these flakes and imperfections.
Shameful red bumps and blemishes.

To boil this fat,
Off my thighs, arms, and middle.
My overflowing flesh, an unbearable jiggle.

To drown my self loathing,
Self centered,
Self conscious ***.

To steam up the mirror and hide.

To shine up those back seats I grew up so quickly in,
To soak up those long necks I spilled the rest of,
To wipe off those windows I fogged up or snuck out of,
To cleanse me of each late night with every guy that made me his ***** little girl.

One nice hot bath...
To relax and forget that I'm only worth getting you off.


ps. No, I don't think you should join me... ****** bag.

All the words that I utter,
  And all the words that I write,
Must spread out their wings untiring,
  And never rest in their flight,
Till they come where your sad, sad heart is,
  And sing to you in the night,
Beyond where the waters are moving,
  Storm-darken'd or starry bright.

I was angry with my friend;
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I waterd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears:
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine.

And into my garden stole.
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see,
My foe outstretchd beneath the tree.

So silent I when Love was by
He yawned, and turned away;
But Sorrow clings to my apron-strings,
I have so much to say.

The instructor said,

    Go home and write
    a page tonight.
    And let that page come out of you--
    Then, it will be true.

I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem.
I am the only colored student in my class.
The steps from the hill lead down into Harlem,
through a park, then I cross St. Nicholas,
Eighth Avenue, Seventh, and I come to the Y,
the Harlem Branch Y, where I take the elevator
up to my room, sit down, and write this page:

It's not easy to know what is true for you or me
at twenty-two, my age. But I guess I'm what
I feel and see and hear, Harlem, I hear you:
hear you, hear me--we two--you, me, talk on this page.
(I hear New York, too.) Me--who?
Well, I like to eat, sleep, drink, and be in love.
I like to work, read, learn, and understand life.
I like a pipe for a Christmas present,
or records--Bessie, bop, or Bach.
I guess being colored doesn't make me not like
the same things other folks like who are other races.
So will my page be colored that I write?

Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white--
yet a part of me, as I am a part of you.
That's American.
Sometimes perhaps you don't want to be a part of me.
Nor do I often want to be a part of you.
But we are, that's true!
As I learn from you,
I guess you learn from me--
although you're older--and white--
and somewhat more free.

This is my page for English B.

If an easy rain
would make the rocks slippery,
he would hold my hand.

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.