i could sleep with a man
but i’ll lay with the souls of black folks
maybe i could grow me something
some azure flower that would smell
like life to me/ a root of some healing spice
might push up from my soils/ if I
dream with the souls of black folks.

what is invisible is not a man
but the spirits of some who were
bigger is not a black boy yearning for an airplane
but the gaze of our children who dont know
why ‘we can’t get no satisfaction.’

i could sleep with a man
i could even sing with a man
but i gotta rise with the souls of black folks
where could the A train take me
if i don’t know where im sposed to go
ellington is not a street.
              & my child knows     her world
              is as rich as people in sorrow can spare/
              brash as our bodies in the black forest

but it hasn’t always been this way
i swear/ we were not always missing.