14 haiku
for Emmett Louis Till
Your limbs buried
in northern muscle carry
their own heartbeat
Mississippi
alert with
conjugated pain
young Chicago
stutterer whistling
more than flesh
your pores
wild stars embracing
southern eyes
footprints blooming
in the night remember
your blood
in this southern
classroom summer settles
into winter
i hear your
pulse swallowing
neglected light
your limbs
fly off the ground
little birds . ... .
we taste the
blood ritual of
southern hands
blue midnite
breathe sailing on
smiling tongues
say no words
time is collapsing
in the woods
a mother's eyes
remembering a cradle
pray out loud
walking in Mississippi
i hold the stars
between my teeth
your death
a blues, i could not
drink away.
______________________
Sonia Sanchez ~
Collected Poems
Beacon Press, 2021
