I guess it was my destiny to live so long
Death chase me down
death’s way
uproot a breast
infest the lymph nodes
crack a femur
rip morale
to shreds
Death chase me down
death’s way
tilt me off-kilter
crutch me slow
nobody show me
how
you make a cup of coffee
with no hands
Death chase me down
death’s way
awkward in sunlight
single in a double bed at night
and hurtling out of mind
and out of sight
Don’t chase me down
down
down
death chasing me
death’s way
And I’m not done
I’m not about to blues my dues or beg
I am about to teach myself
to fly slip slide flip run
fast as I need to
on one leg
Copyright © 2017 by the June M. Jordan Literary Estate. Used with the permission of the June M. Jordan Literary Estate, www.junejordan.com.
June Jordan
June Jordan was born in New York, New York, on July 9, 1936, and attended Barnard College. She was an activist, poet, writer, and teacher, as well as a prominent figure in the civil rights, feminist, antiwar, and LGBTQ movements of the twentieth century.