Cling

“Child with continuing cling issue his No in final fire”
             -Gwendolyn Brooks

sapphires are lovely as the Star of Bombay revered by Child.
she embodies its six rays replacing spoiled limbs. with
heat she hopes to change her lack luster, halt the continuing
spectrum a cousin sapped from her. a vampire’s cling,
she remembers his as cornflower blue. a distracting issue
a lover is not guilty of. how does he know it’s a turn off? he
cannot enter her that way nor retire to any position. No
moment to gaze without recall. shadows cannot swing in
the amber light. she admires little if at all. a final
twinge when lover pinch upon entering Crayola blush fire.

Credit

Copyright © 2019 by LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 18, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets.

About this Poem

“The poem, originally a golden shovel, is a form created by Terrance Hayes. It deals with childhood trauma, specifically sexual abuse and the probable inability to have a healthy sex life. I was asked to write several golden shovels based on lines from Gwendolyn Brooks poems—where the name of the form originates from—for an anthology. This is one of them.”
—LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs