what could the clouds be
whispering about me?
they don’t even know my name
hush child!
hush
ain’t i told you a thousand
times to whisper when we
walking thru the sky.
girl, cloud know your name
moon too
stars told ‘em
they know ‘bout you
know ‘bout you before you were ever born
From Breath of the Song: New and Selected Poems (Carolina Wren Press, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by Jaki Shelton Green. Used with the permission of the author.