Cauliflowered,
I stand in the kitchen-
Egg-planted,
Second banana to a buffoon.
My body's so love wounded
There's no where for words to cut.
My eye is swollen, closed.
I am entombed, silent as an old movie.
My words crowd, roped in,
Jeering prize fighter lips.
My lungs' bellow blows
Heart fire; this anvilled head rings,
And I've loved you since
The day I wore blue.
-for Toni Morrison
(from VANISHED by Carolyn Beard Whitlow}
