after Lucille Clifton

I began like you. With what I was given,

a mama, a third, a daddy, and a little brother

I love like a corner piece of heaven.

We were a poor people given nothing,

we had to earn our life        like we wanted our life.

I knew my mama’s voice   through all the other mama’s voices.

I knew my little brother’s lying

like I knew our father’s lying,

same song, higher key.

I am alive living near some graves

I share the last night with

Death will make a space for you

there’s love in that.

I’ve asked my dead for forgiveness before the moon touches us

and make what I say true.

I want to walk into my very own home. I am a black bell ringing

into a void I truly fear.