sun beats
wind leaps
blood memory
apocalyptic self-image crystallized affections of pious solace
emptiness from this ceaseless war
I want to sin
against purity
bliss hovering above the void
haptic fallout feverish blood
sun beats down
wind leaps
blood memory
cheerful obscene boredom
angel
of
the
sun
singing with a hard fist
life’s benevolent corruption
everything is hard against the tongue
everything dissolving
into otherworldly paradise
make heaven my home
I never learn my lesson
Copyright © 2021 by Precious Okoyomon. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 29, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.
so many fuckless days and nights
only the solitary fox
watching my window light
barks her compassion.
i move away from her eyes.
from the pitying brush
of her tail
to a new place and check
for signs. so far
i am the only animal.
i will keep the door unlocked
until something human comes.
from the terrible stories (BOA Editions, 1996). Copyright © 1996 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company on behalf of BOA Editions.