Appears with permission of Four Way Books. “Sonnet for a Tall Flower Blooming at Dinnertime,” “‘I worked hard so my girls…’”, and “Performance Perm” from You Don’t Have to Go to Mars for Love (c) 2020 by Yona Harvey. When I saw you with that same person & I’m scared to be by myself. Talking bout when I say, Cigarettes & yo. Yall know what I’m talking bout when I say, sweet sin & excess, & yo. & I’d rather & I’d rather & I’d rather & I’d rather &-be by myself. You sang the songs & I’m scared to be by myself. Thinking melted thinking at the bar counter, thinking thinking thinking thinking far fromĬonversation. Something told me relish the cool I was just sitting here thinking of a single ice cube Let the men holler after me, & I’d rather let the women shake their
Girl, I shoulda Something told me Something told me Something told me had your name.
You / gone & cry girl she knew how to keep company. Girl & yall was talking her neighbor saw you with that girl & yall was talking cueing your musicĪll summer long Something deep down -scotch Something deep down & water, Something deepĭown gin & Something deep down you, Something deep down said / it was over / When I saw Something told me My mama waited too long to mention it was over. Performance Perm / “I’d Rather Be a Blind Girl”Īfter Etta James, Live from San Francisco, 1994 Blessedīe the child at the center of snow & flu season. X’s & O’s glow in the daughter’s palm Look Tattered Bible, the daughter’s overdue library bookĬoncerning States’ rights. Simeon, she thinks instead, & then: her long-gone grandmother’s Meanwhile, “Soupįor dinner, again?” What else? It’s winter. one of the last acceptable print messages. Before it’s too late, her mother snaps a picture-anticipatesĪngst & oddly angled aches, strawberry letters. If the wicked call from the other side, she doesn’t hear. “I worked hard so my girls didn’t have to serve nobody else like I did except God”Ĭandy-colored bulbs frame a girl for a holiday. ……….dark that hosts the most private sorrows Were born in the old-world city, the invisibleĭark girl city, the city that couldn’t holdĪ candle, a straight pin, a slave-owner’s sins
To serenade you, to raise a glass to you. Southern Flower, I want to quote the bard, Sonnet for a Tall Flower Blooming at Dinnertime