A Winter Twilight
–Angelina Weld GrimkéA silence slipping around like death,
Yet chased by a whisper, a sigh,
a breath; One group of trees, lean,
naked and cold,
Inking their cress ‘gainst a
sky green-gold;One path that knows where the
corn flowers were;
Lonely, apart, unyielding, one fir;
And over it softly leaning down,
One star that I loved ere the
fields went brown
Photo by Giorgi Iremadze on Unsplash
The World Says Not to Expect the World
–Khadijah QueenBut do it anyway — be made, all
out of love— taken, bestowed, lived
through, by means of, withoutthe beauty we don’t want
to waste & the world says it
wants, but trashes, sees as glut, usablein a finite manner We like talk
of human forevers as holes in us
unfilled, we’re raggedy apartmentsWhich thin glamour to blame for such
schism, runaways & orchids
tattooed on wrists or thighs, as dull men scoff—We still say keep fighting
& love me again— don’t the pines die, too
& exactly with our names