for Sonia Sanchez
Inside yo blackstrap molasses voicehope hears echoes resonating from you
Jumping on the skin of each word
adorning each sentence with henna
dressing each page in mudcloth
discovering the entire book is naked
laid open to the people
resting on quilts of you seamlessly rendered
Sunbeams of your sounds fill
the crack of the Liberty Bell
with a patchwork of
explosion black
orisha blue
and rainbow chrysalis
As you reached through a flat plane of uniform type,
your eyes & hands pushed
me in front of your mirror
- Tara Betts, copyright 1999