Poetry by Keisha-Gaye Anderson from Everything is Necessary
Everything is Necessary
every
thing
is necessary,
required to
be
is
just
is
how you see
is up to
you
are you
pink and green
caladium,
a field of hearts
in bloom,
bowing beneath
the rust/gold
gown of a
redwood tree?
or are
you
misery?
a spirit
cemented
to the stone
walls of its
temple,
crumbling and
crashing
onto
every mirror
that enters
forgetting
that all you are
is We,
a thousand-petal
flower
rocking
in the breeze called
time
the symphony of
lives
is merely
one second
one breath
to the great mind
dreaming these
colors
and every shape
that blooms
in galaxies
your mission is
to see
know that this is
one cradle
and we are an
infant with
infinite eyes
we are dancing
droplets
fallen from the sky
that speaks every
thing
into
a whirlpool
a black spool of
sound
that moves us
like the
ecstasy of
lovers becoming
one body
one melody
you are to
sing
until you have
no more breath
enjoy this vantage point
now
the only
death
is insisting
that your eyes stay shut
see clearly
before time’s
up
Age
Age should
expand the iris
of your name
into a doorway
that lets the blazing
light,
splintered through
darkness,
come into clearer view
years should bloom
you like
a field of freesias
under the sun
of you mind
and unfurl you into
into one of the beautiful things
in time
your journey
in bone and skin
should mark
a firmly-trodden path
into clay
to make a way toward home
for those lost
in the thicket
we should not just grow up
but grow in
and study
the sound that
spawned the stars
we are uncoiling
toward the greatest
possibility of the
grandest idea
just to know
how fire exploded
from blackness
into a heartbeat
a grain of corn
an ocean tide
laughter
age is tempering us
into the perfect shape
of the
Divine
Ancestors
You wanted to look
into the dark
didn’t you?
So, don’t curse these eyes
We gave them to you
And sent you to
straighten the bends in
these steel tracks
that link all of our names
rusted under salt water
buried beneath bundles
of cane
Sing songs into candle flame
for these bones of mine
that now reach through you
stand you into
six feet of woman
They have not forgotten how to
brace against the lash
and bend backward
for the bembé
Each day
we move with you
Can’t you hear?
We are riding the rhythm
that beats these words
through your center
[Office1]
You beg us to enter
but we never left
We is me
is you
is us
all now
together
since forever
We laugh
and lift
your sight toward
star shine
sea shells
sleeping poetry
in every alley
and pissed on corner
We tune your ears
to the footfall of predators
who stroke their loneliness
to the bow line of your lips
You wanted to know
not believe
so see it all here
now
And build a ladder
with these visions
that lift us up
one by one
hand over hand
afterbirth
to under dirt
We listen with you
roll slow up
this mountain
that needed us to
tumble down
break ground
move things
So, look here—
kill your fear
open these eyes
pull us back together
march us home
Art by Keisha-Gaye Anderson
