My New Black Magazine - NYU Black Renaissance Noire BRN-FALL-206 ISSUE RELEASE | Page 11

And she began to speak
To those who stand in opposition of altruism
God gave you agency
That one day you may discover it
Oh son of the dance
Like a rock shadow
You must learn to split this life in two wholes
Find meaning in every sip to quench your thirst
As clouds tumble through the sky
Isis left the city square
Hoping to disappear the buildings
To her back
She walked into a new day
They told him how they’d make him new
Gave him labor half the week
Sang his praise before his face
But every smile excised his poise
There is a passion in the measured lines of her palms
As she learns to work for second chances
A revivifying melody bounces through her head
She finds the step to push on through
Illiteracy is silence
A night to bury the calligrapher’s pen
A hidden chorus in the alley light
Sullen was her wait
As the world stood still
She fought herself to feel for something more
Prayed the ash of resistance into kohl
And painted her eyes to see

10

Maybe the world is not what it seems
Borrowing from the root for water
Suspended in its own sulcus
Trading skins for skins