FIRE IN MY BONES BLOOS
Dere ain’t much lef’ on dis side of heaven—
mah woman den become a star, a ball of gas,
dey say, or a slab of hot-water cornbread
tossed up 2 tha sky. Dere ain’t much luv
lef’ in her body, ain’t no mo’ sweet shortnin’ bread
lef’ 2 eat wit coffee. Dis typa thing happened
inna Old Book once, Elijah was took’up inna sky
ona firin’ chariot, took into tha bosom of God.
But mah baby ain’t went 2 no heaven,
she den become a star and I caint help
but cry a solemn cry, tak a step toward
tha blackness, gon’ dress mahself
wit black earf. So don’t bother wit me,
let tha worms and maggots flirt wit me.
Mah woman den become a star, and sens’ dere
ain’t much a nigga can do but sang tha bloos
and look toward tha sky
and hope dat tha fire in mah bones
can make meh a star 2.
DELUSIONS OF THE BLOOS 3: ASH OF THE MIND
(:)(—)
sunder the chaste scream of midnight,
an echo buried beneath the permafrost
of a dissembling riot.
I found myself a creeper
hiding in the shadows, skin bloo with death,
bones burned with heat.
I slither to the embrace of a dream I was woman
sun dancing on my brow, a bitter taste wraps
my tongue I found myself in love—
before chaos or cold found distortion
now a ladybug
I crawl beneath the foot of a giant—
a spade misses cutting me in two,
the cold earth opens, permafrost still thick.
A shriek pulled me back to midnight,
her shine beclouded—now a moth dancing
in a dusty closet. The flickering light my moon,
the screaming radiator my song—
an alarm sounds
yanking me away from a life of wings,
brilliant lights, that wonderful spade
should have cut me in two, burying me in the permafrost.
Midnight will make me one with the ashes of my mind.
Dontay M. Givens II (they/he)—the child of Batavia and Shaylese Givens, daughters of Charlotte and Larry Washington, daughter of Flossie-Mae and Tommie Lee Givens—is a poet from the West Side of Chicago, currently living in Harlem, NYC. They, imag(in)ing anachronisms for their ancestors, rap/write poems which, lingering in the un/broken poetics of black English (Ebonics), hope to ward off the blues. They are currently pursuing an English PhD at New York University with focuses in black studies, medieval and early modern studies, and poetics and aesthetics.