Sherese Francis
She Who Is The Image of God
There’s a holiness that She carries in Her hands,
like a Moses budding a kaleidoscope of butterflies
fluttering to freedom. She crafts with a mother tongue
whispering in Her body, a code of thrones in trees and herbs;
Her hips are a lotus blossoming from the mud; She tends
a garden of marigolds with the dirt from Her grave; She carries
a storehouse of rice in Her hair and on Her journey made
a jambalaya constellation to direct Her people home. Oh the glory
of Her fractured sun radiating through our bodies; we wear
the many colors of Her skins, wash our feet in Her sweat
as She dances with roots and rituals of resistance. Oh, to know
home is to see yourself in Her image, is to divine a mirror
of Her beauty, is to crown yourself with Her spiraling wisdom,
is not to be afraid of Her presence, but to know She has always been.
Sherese Francis is a Queens-based, Afro-Caribbean-American poet, editor, interdisciplinary artist, workshop facilitator, and literary curator of the project, J. Expressions. She has published work in various publications including Furious Flower, Obsidian Lit, Rootwork Journal, Spoken Black Girl, The Operating System, Cosmonauts Avenue, No Dear, Apex Magazine, African Voices, and Newtown Literary. Additionally, she has published two chapbooks, and has one coming soon, called Recycling a Why That Rules Over My Sacred Sight.