![]() Khalisa Rae is a poet and journalist in Durham, NC, and author of Real Girls Have Real Problems chapbook. Her poetry can be seen in Crab Fat, Damaged Goods, Hellebore, Terse, Sundog Lit, PANK, Tishman Review, Occulum, the Obsidian, among others. She is the winner of the Bright Wings Poetry contest, the Furious Flower Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, the White Stag Publishing Contest, among others. Currently, she serves as Managing Equity Editor at Carve Magazine and Writing Center Director at Shaw University. Her debut collections, Ghost in a Black Girls Throat are forthcoming from Red Hen Press in April 2021 and White Stag Publishing Summer '21 Belly-Full of Gospel
Each morning my grandma rises to find her Bible still breathing, belting her favorite aria. A lion, a well, a sacrifice. Crack-of-dawn, coffee-stained, scrolls making music at 6am. Each page turn a chord she knows better than hot water cornbread and collard greens. Wailing Blessed Assurance, What a Friend to crackling bacon– all a belly-full of gospel summoning spirit to be there in the midst. Her back buckle and hand wave awakening a holy ghost- Bash-sha- Shadrach, Meshach- tongue-speaking spells cast out the demons haunting this old house. “While I’m on this tedious journey”— a sovereign song soothing her aching, calligraphed hands. Walk with Me, she asks, inviting Him in the room. What a meditation, a ritual to welcome Holy into a place held together by broken bread. A sacred invitation to dine with her and the browning hash. Nothing but the Blood and sunrise slicing sound-- stirring a tent revival lasting ‘til nightfall across her wobbling kitchen table. Ode to Uncommon Things for Pablo If this world has taught me anything, it has taught me we are obsessed with naming, with calling a Ren a Ren, with deciding the weeping willow was heavy with grief, with echoing the words Nightjar and picturing nocturnal hawk. Maybe it's the god-like power of it all, the villain of conjuring titles, calling a thing broken and watching it fall, then calling it chosen–phoenix, and watching it rise. Who are we to be cataloged and filed? All of us just common things waiting to be named uncommon, waiting to go from bird to Nightingale, from pigeon to white-wing, crest-backed Long-tailed widow. The sonnet we hoped would be written for our raised backs and color stripes— unwritten. Instead, we watched while handkerchief and pitch pipe got 83. Mementos to things less miracle than we. Time spent crafting sestinas to penny loafer, and pocket watch. But we are not listed-- we, the uncommon, silvery tokens.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Dina L. Relles-
texts i never sent Hannah Larrabee-
The observable universe Caitlyn Alario- Sapphics II
Michael Battisto-
My Friends Ben Togut- Dear H
Saba Keramati-
Self Mythology Shannon Johnson- the wave in my heart is a great green wave
Lauren Saxon- When I tell the flowers hello, she knows
Lisa Summe-
On Polyamory Caroline Stevens-
Field of Vision travis tate- MORE BEAUTY
Alissa M. Barr- Living
Michael Bazzett- from The Book of Unknown Facts
Carrie George- Removing and repositioning
Jess Smith-
Student Evaluations Jenny Irish- Rusalka
Terri Linn David-
For the Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits Darius Simpson- 2 Poems
Kaleigh O'Keefe- Autobiography of Joan of Arc
Timi Sanni- In This World of Mysteries...
Anna Attie- We Lose Her Over Facetime
Ruth Baumann- 2 Poems
Rob Colgate- Remember These Tulips
Tasneem Maher- Pilgrimage
Aerik Francis- Bebop
Emily Blair- The best ham...
Adrienne Novy- 2 Poems
Daniel Garcia- 2 Poems
Brendan Joyce- moving day
Sanna Wani- 2 Poems
Raphael Jenkins- 2 Poems
Daniel Summerhill-
2 Poems Ava Gripp- Your Grandfather Had Secrets
stevie redwood- abolish the dead
Ariel Clark-Semyck-
2 Poems benedict nguyen- 2 Poems
Devin Kelly- 2 Poems
Alan Chazaro- In a Vernacular of Speculation
Deema K. Shehabi-
A Summer's Tale with Fire Birds Kayleb Rae Candrilli-
2 Poems Julianne Neely- 2 Poems
Jake Bailey- 2 Poems
Fargo Tbakhi- 2 Poems
Naomi Shihab Nye-
2 Poems Keith Leonard- Jukebox
CAConrad- 3 Poems
Roya Marsh- for (insert name)
Stephanie Kaylor- LONG DISTANCE
Despy Boutris- BLOODTEETH
JinJin Xu- Days of Hourless Mothers
Ashley M. Jones- Flour, Milk & Salt
Sam Herschel Wein- How To Cook Your Family
Marianne Chan- 2 poems
Jason Crawford- PReP
Geramee Hensley- Redundancy Limit
Dustin Pearson- My Brother Outside the House in Hell
DT McCrea- On occasion of my own death
Noor Hindi- Unkept
Linda Dove- Mid-Life with Teeth
Stephen Furlong- I Don't Know About You, but Mostly I Just Want to be Held
Dorothy Chan- Because You Fall Too Fast Too Hard
Kevin Latimer- MIRAGE
Taylor Byas- Rooftop Monologue
Matt Mitchell- FINE LINE TRIPTYCH
Todd Dillard- Will
Heidi Seaborn- Under The Bed
Heather Myers- A Rainbow, Just For A Minute
Donna Vorreyer- In The Encyclopedia of Human Gestures
Conor Bracken- THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO TO A MAN
Ben Purkert- 2 Poems
Emma Bolden- What Women's Work Is
Chelsea Dingman- Lockdown Drill
Raych Jackson- Pantoum for Derrion Albert from the Plank
Elliot Ping- in the eighth grade
Kwame Opoku-Duku-
ii. dance moves D.A. Powell- Sneak
|