Pole| |Sport
We turn and turn ourselves
Into the question. We turn ourselves against
Its gravity. An axis we defy.
The idea spun
Current as—: an absolute
Value, faith presents a gift
For our unboxing—: between poles.
We are the line women.
Hungry-handed transformers
Handed lightning—: bolts, striking.
Who wants to address America?
When I stand in between
Two poles, I am the absolute value of
The lyric—: I have been
Where she stands.
Between poles she is the determinant
Of—: gravity. A force, she
Stands in| |for
Her own won now. Headline—:
No flag does justice.
She scales the staff
Herself—: unflagging,
She waves.
Copyright © 2022 by Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on August 26, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.
“Inspired by the grace, athleticism, and creativity of a Black pole sport champion, ‘Pole| |Sport’ reads some im/possible equations, formed when a performer takes the stage and stretches her body into the shape of a lambda. How might we dis-embed Black women’s lives from structures of violence embedded in language’s standard units and calculations? Living this ‘let me had been’ moment, Black women see in order to be spaces of invention: ‘I live here. I am / in this body. I ain’t worried about less-than and not-equal-to definitions of ‘supreme.’ Bye.’”
—Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon is the author of ] Open Interval [ (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2009).