I Gave My Heart to That Woman

And look at her now, water to her eaves
flood logged & toxic floors, dead body faced

down in sludge. Who mourns nameless souls
alone with rats & dogs that feast on the dead

Where now brown cow, your hide in seven
fold shadows & sadness. Where you now

Shequita of the East. Conjure black sofa love
on Piety in that warehouse called Copastetic

Where’s the Bottom Line, music & flesh &
beauty on every floor, dancing & laughter?

Look what they done done—you, lifted up
in Slave Market Square, for the highest bid

Chains, slave pens, spirit guides, they sold you
down the river. Where’s my boat? My horse?

Flooded, drown, a ocean to cross, where’s Liberty
Utah? Minnesota? Oakland? Nashville? Ohio?

Can I leave my lover behind? Can I begin again?
Can we make our Fa, or is all just a scream