question marks (audio only)
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will poetry change the world? no one asks
this about football, the thrill of watching or
playing. we get that nurses & doctors are
healers. no question that rabbis, priests, &
imams guide individuals & groups through
spiritual thickets. we don’t tell cooks to put
down their wooden spoons & go make a real
my love is black though my love is not black :: 
think the darkness cradling the milky way :: 
imagine quick light flowing down the back 
of my throat, glowing—i swallow the day :: 
your body is still a miracle    thirst 
quenched    with water across dry tongue and lips  
    or cocoa butter    ashy legs immersed 
till shine seen    sheen    the mind too    cups and dips 
from its favorite rivers    figures and facts