for Minnie Riperton & Ms. Lucille
This earth
of the dagger-toothed & hawks,
whose names we know,
taking bones for diamonds,
full of hair & snakes,
earth eating you, slowly,
below the sound
of gold horns.
This earth
with a jaw in its hand.
Brown-chariot, take-you-home
earth, chew you up
with the quiet work
of animals & trees, underworld
churning you through
the dark engines
of its appetite. This
earth we opened up
& buried you in, our
treasure, we miss
you, we miss you
with all life. This night
we think we will never close
again. We are pinned open
like a scientist’s moths
to leave you there dressed
in a box & earth around you.
This box earth, coffin
earth. Teeth earth eat
your chest through, laced
by the wrangle of beetles & worms
& ants who carry your bright pieces
like market cloth over their heads
to feed you to the queen
in the deeper corridors
of mysteries & dirt.
Trust the queen is you.
Trust the mud is you,
& the soft, silver afro of the dandelion.
Trust the grass-whistle might be
your speech, high as the whistle
of the whale. Trust
we’ll know your shape, whatever species
in you answers when we put our faces
to the dirt & call you by
your old & human name.
from Kingdom AnimaliaFind it in the library
Copyright © BOA Editions, Ltd 2011
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc.
on behalf of BOA Editions LTD.