A solo full of quivering flesh flying
like black crows from the bottom of nothing to
the top of nowhere in a hall of suicide
suicide hall of consciousness trying to
suicide us in yellow flames of awareness order &
whiteness
in the name of god and leprosy
wild pimps of desperation
wet dogs & pigs
frighten by the genius of pure black rage
the demise of death and the suicide birth of Shango
of Ogun iron magic and the mistress of moisture
Corina Corina
love goddess arched in the nostrils of Damballa
rising from the holes of Malcolm into the
massacred sharpeville gods of flesh
spirit nipples of unity
the music
protector of the delta
collector of sweet juices and paradise
sperm brother blood sister
Oshun goddess of honey hot vinegar mangos and
castor oil
queen of fire at the crossroads eating in the
belly of Legba
the honk man honk
god of sound god of war god of repetition
kidney tears and liver drops
the word
holder of the past
creator of the future
and lover to the black birds building a
new world supreme
Welcome
From Firespitter: The Collected Poems of Jayne Cortez, edited by Margaret Busby (Nightboat Books, 2025). Copyright © 2025 by Jayne Cortez. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.