Two Poems (2015)

As For Dancing, 4 July 1978

—thank you;

Thank you for fullness and hunger and sharing them both
like the silky dress I borrowed from Tawanda;
and for the day off tomorrow;

Afro sheen and spider lashes, his printed salute, at ease, in white jeans
and every lyric the Emotions belted
just before the lights came on; for sweat;
and for the letter from home that said, “I miss you,” and then,
“I’m waiting for the bus;”
for the sense to know waiting is not where it’s at;

for guests too full of chicken to walk the grounds
and who can only hear the sound
of the children at play; because I get to see them play;

and for those beautiful birds too
whose calls made me duck at first because I saw The Birds
and there are no phone booths here;

for taro on my toes and the work of want; for knowing how to do both;
and peanut butter fudge—sometimes—and tic-tac-toe with Tawanda,
beating her and laughing long after we should still be laughing

because it disturbs the others; and for Earth, Wind, and Fire;
because there is nothing better than a horn section’s fingertips
twisting my hips under a night sky’s strobes.

I Learn To Love The Body She Loves, 28 September 1977

If I found my Bible
what would I do with it
Never did much more than
tack the pieces together
and my permanent fix blew,
pixie dust without a fairytale,
to pretty; its cloud sparkly.

I liked to get high
for that kind of reason
thousand little neurons
buzzing in my brain so
orderly the hum
was its own silence.
The devil you know is
better than the one
you don’t. I take 2
and in the morning
trouble the shower
just the same pretending
not to see the thick
scar tissue, a jagged mountain range
tumbling into the ravine of her crack.

(“As For Dancing” was originally published in Quiddity, Spring/Summer 2013, Volume 6.1, and is reprinted with permission. “I Learn To Love The Body She Loves” was originally published by Connotation Press, April 2013, and is reprinted with permission.)

(Poet darlene anita scott is a regular contributor to the jonestown report. Her complete collection of writings and poetry for this site may be found here. She can be reached at darleneanitascott@gmail.com.)