Black History Month, Poetry Edition

Where Is She ::: Koté Li Yé
~ r. erica doyle

Long ago I met
a beautiful boy

Together we slept
in my mother's womb

Now the street of our fathers
rises to eat him
::
Everything black
is forbidden in Eden

In my arms my brother
sleeps, teeth pearls

I give away the night
so he can have this slumber
::
I give away the man
who made me white

I give away the man
who freed my mother

I pry apart my skull
my scalp unfurls
::
I nestle him gray
inside my brain,

my brother sleeps
and dreams of genes

mauve lips fast against spine
he breathes. The sky
::
bends into my eyes
as they search for his skin

Helicopter blades
invade our peace:::

Where is that Black
Where is it
Where
::
Blades slice, whine
pound the cupolas

I slide him down and out
the small of my vertebrae

He scurries down the bone
and to the ocean
::
navigates home
in a boat carved of gommier

When he reaches our island
everyone is relieved

though they have not
forgotten me, belsé
::
Where is
your sister, eh?
Whey?

Koté belsé yé?
Whey?

Koté li yé
Koté li yé

To the sand
To the stars on the sea

Koté li yé
Koté li yé
To the one-celled egun
To the torpid moon

Koté li yé
Koté li yé
::
There:::

Koté li yé
drapes across a baton;
glows electric in shine of taser;
pumped dry with glass bottle;
::
There:::

Koté li yé
vagina gape into the night;
neck dangle taut with plastic
bags and poorly knotted ropes;
::
There:::

Koté li yé
belsé
Koté?

:::          I burn

my skin shines blacker, lacquer

:::          non-mwen sé                  flambó

ashes tremble in the moonlight

:::          sans humanité

my smoking bones fume the future

:::          pa bwè afwéchi pou lafiyèv dòt moun