The Second Law of Thermodynamics
When I write over this poem,
I will cross out every word but time.
repeating
time
time passing
passing time
passing
You can never go back
if you drop a glass
you will never pick up the pieces.
You will cut yourself.
You will pile on regrets.
That is the law of entropy
that is describing the simplest of motion as complicated theory and page long equation
that is the realization that time is endless
and if time is infinite then,
1/∞=0
my time is zero
I am zero
I am nothing.
Time is disordered,
time is unsatisfying,
but
this time
this time is relative.
If only I could be big enough.
If only I could be massive.
I could slow down time just enough
I could make time stop.
I could reach out and change something.
I could soothe Baltimore’s rage with equality
I could build a school for 200 missing Nigerian girls.
I could tell every teenager that’s ever been kicked out of their home how beautiful they are.
I could have that talk with my mother, that I should have had a year ago…
I could give everyone here, everyone that feels a bit too small, a bit of advice:
The key to studying thermodynamics,
the key to understanding,
the key to not giving up,
is throw all the laws out
become Einstein
and unapologetically believe in the power of yourself.
sermon preaching morning (an erasure poem from Dr. King’s speech on Vietnam)
Preach war
blind patriotism
slavery
Jesus
hell
silence.
Doubt us.
Demand inner truth
especially human spirit
Thought:
we’re always on the verge
we must
break the silence of the night
People
half-hearted, confused, and doubt-ridden
reading of history people silence the truth
Break the betrayal
departure from the destruction
I speak to you
Liberation
I wish not to speak
I am a preacher by calling
both black
and
broken.
Self Preservation of Women
If I tuck mace into my bra, and slip
knives along my waist
will I feel safer going out at night
alone and naked?
This is my body, a woman’s body,
soft, with curves
at times
I add edges for safety.
Ask again:
what is woman?
Ask me when I no longer need to protect the softest part of
self- my body.
These parts have been called dirty and beautiful- at the same time.
What is this thing that calls itself woman
unraveling,
take off its pants
say to it
woman is defined by a biology
degrade it to those parts
both dirty and beautiful.
what is woman?
called “she” by “he” for “him”
woman, not defined but
socially constructed
drawn up in light, sweet colors
to be beauty and sex
called many things
propped up to sell cheap beer.
Like choking on your favorite joke: Woman.
No control or rough edges
cut off her head, spread her legs
but wait
define “woman” before you use her.
Before you walk out in a body called woman
called many things- dirty and beautiful-
cover the softest parts of yourself
before you are taken
re-defined
eventually
dissolved.