Diaspora Poetry: Rio, Salvador (Brazil)

alchemy |ˈalkəmē|

i have sought
the secret ways
of turning water to wine,
iron to gold.

i found charred rust instead. Red and
blackened,
hot to touch.

i should have stopped to breathe
Yemaya and Erzulie
through both nostrils.

instead,
i tap my veins for
the clutch and cluster of breaks
and war dances;
i pepper the cracks of whips,
a horizon blackened by ships, onto formulas washed invisible
in the blood
of slaves.

yesterday, i spun on the accent.

today, technicolor drumbeats shiver,
but the clenched hands don’t fit.

still.
it still feels right.







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i'm not feeling like this poem is finished. but im posting it anyway. i will probably add a new one soon. feel free to sound off on it.

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