She looks me in the eye and with some urgency says I left Barbados on my birthday I’m trying not to cry as the tears well up in her eyes. I came because I wanted my children to have a better life. She tells me this over and over And I am thinking About leaving [...]

I don’t know why the waves crash down repeatedly and in their rhythms I hear Mary J singing Peace I’m here to make Peace Because all I know is intimidation and the crowd and the mixing and I hate both I just want to let the sun glare at me and cuddle with the idea [...]

But I was afraid to ask. I was afraid they would reject the premise of my query To go away, just fucking go away. I know that I must hold them with tenderness That I must hold this body with love That there is a long list of things That I must do. I kept [...]

This is the tale of the girl who had voices in her head. And they told her things like: you must only be what we have created. You are the disastrous choices you have made. You are not supposed to love that person; he has ambition The voices say: sacrifice here. And: sacrifice again. Please [...]

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I have to admit to missing it – my neck, even though it is still there

The smitten are the lucky ones who dream of all possibilities we try to wake them up and they merely smile in their sleep.

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The heart can be spread too thinly over time. Part of me is lurking on September 25, 1988, and some of it is hanging in the air of Niagara, 24 hours ago. Some of it is there now with you as you try to touch me I want to tell you that I’m all here, [...]

It’s Friday morning and the Jury begins deliberations Oscar Grant and retribution and anger burning in the streets: I remember 1992 and the sign “The kitchen is on fire. Let the motherfuckers burn.” She was old and graying and still in the streets tired of asking for justice now asking for flames. It’s Friday morning [...]