SATURDAY
hello world, so what do you think about my new bottletree, had one of those old clothesline poles in the
backyard, found some wire easels at local micheals and made me a bottle tree, hung some fetishes and
boom, serenity approves, (& decided to ursurp my sitting chair, thats my writing kitty, she does what she pleases)
have been intending to put this poem by safiya up for sometime now
at AWP couple months ago SU faculty was supposed to choose a legacy piece to
read and i chose to read this one by safiya, couldnt find it in her published works
but i had a poster she had once done and i once heard her do it so i was able to
channel her, it went over big time, and ive had about 10 folk ask me for it email
i meant to put it up on rootsblog, forgive me if i already have, mind like a sieve
safiya an old running buddy of mine, one of my prime literary cohorts, thats my girl, hooked
me up w/my job at the cuse, then died of cancer soon as i got here - it made
my heart full when folk loved and i mean loved her piece,
congregation full of women artists, they loved it
formatting not perfect and typos abound, i was typing it up on the run, will clean
it up one day soon but not now, having a little trouble getting into my
woodshed grove, got many distractions upon me, gotta go, gotta struggle w/the page
gotta struggle w/the page
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portrait of a woman artist by safiya henderson holmes
here I sit like a bird in the wilderness, a bird in the
wilderness, a bird in the wilderness,
here I sit like a bird in the wildnerness
waiting for my desert
paintbrush, colors, dishes, sex, no
sex, dishes, mop floor, lestiol, ajax, dance, paintbrush, colors, no.
relatives and friends to talk to, children, school,
meetings, trains to ride, buses to wait for, grocery lines, con
Edison lines,
phonebill lines, welvare approval lines, poetry paintbrushdance sculpt, no
clean the house, kill roaches, find a new roach killing spray, kill all the fucking roaches, wash clothes, dried shit in everyones underwear, mop, birillo, broom, sponge, wax, defrost refiridgerator, someones crying, frying pan hot, dinner burned, face in mirror gone, poem, where the hell is that poem novel, I had a noel somewhere, in with the diryt clothes, everything is in with the dirty clothes sculpt, music, dance, no
child gets sick heal child man gets sick, heal man, child grows, leaves, man grows, leaves, paintbrush bristle disintegrate, no.
man in jail, cry for man, work to free man, work to free self, poet
hospitals and schools closing, stretch ody across the roof of hospital, dare anyone to touch your hospital, school, your paintbrush, poetry music, dance, sculpt, no.
your sex.
be more ladylike, be more caring, dinner on table, shine on floor, face, nails, teeth, wear something sexy, comb your hair, watch tv. smlell like a rose, ys be more like rose bitch
thorns in my dance, my scuptling, poet, lestoil in my mamas pancakes, my grandmas cornbread, a million thorns in my ass, no painting
work for a living, sell yourself, your colors, your music, no singing, get married, live with a man, become a nun, a nurse, everyone loves a nurse, everyone can see that you car eif you nurse, no one sees or cares if you care with a mob, sponge, furniture polish, starch, routine, mundance, dance, poet, paint, sculpt, no
take it to the bridge! take it all to the bridge! lestoil, ajax, brillo, pine, ivory now, burnt eggs, tampx, diaphragm, phone bill, razors for the wrist
poetry, colors, dishes, no dancing ever
take it all to the bridge baby, sweet, good cooking mam, you've come a long way, take it right to the fucking edge and jump
one less stain
jump
one less line
jump
one less bundle of dirty clothes
jump
one less piece of dried shit
take it to the very edge gigl, that's all you got let to do, you've done everything and you've come such a long way
no no no jumping
the children are sleeping, the man is sleeping, theres nothing lert for you to do. jump
no. no jumping, dance pretty lady, poet, paint, sing sculpt
raise your children, get married if you want to, kiss many men if you want to, poet pretty lady
fight like josina michelle, Tillie olsen, no jump, drown in lestoil.
no fight precious woman, like zora neale Hurston, Gertrude sgtein, Thelma hill, valarie maynard, jean rhys
no, easier to chew brillo, fake orgasms, watch tv
no fight woman like june Jordan, paule marshal, Ursula leguin, Adrienne rich, alice walker, Margaret walker, virgina woolf, no slash wrist
no! fight woman, good much needed person like fannie lou, sojourner truth, harriet, billie, swrah, ella, nina, lena, pat, joann, assata, amy, diane, mama, granma, francis, monifa, rosemary, fatisha, judy, Brenda, Cynthia, Cheryl, malaika, milicent
be miltant
spread your legs, your arms, let your hair go bad, and dance, poet, sing, sculpt, paint, fight
its alright woman,
its alright,
its alright
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