Weeping, Nina
sends notes
out on the water
small droplets of sorrow
from time to time/she embeds
a smile
but mostly/she cries
wide Sargasso/seas and seas and seas of wet
what kind of world do we/imagine a child
abandoned by everything familiar
she could be Iraqi
Jamaican/Indian/Chinese
pick a culture/any culture
place her in a photograph/blue sky/green gills
grand landscapes all around
the kind of place that rich people vacation
every day
they lie/on the beach/on her heart/they press her into the floor
the core of her is flattened
there is no winter there
except inside her
cold water gushing from all her fingers
no matter how much she wrings them/her hands
remain soaked with all the sorrows/the memories
the meat of a tale butchered by fate
faith is a thing she borrows
tentative palms placed on either side of it
she examines it/limp
faith without belief is often flaccid
in time it folds in on itself
flat on the floor it unravels
missed fortunes will come again
but miracles/not so much
so imagine her
healed
whole/small girl/child learning the error of weeping despair
flash the doubting flowers from your own wild hair
wear your most confident colors you
own your body/your spirit will weather much more than this
before you die
cry/but only for a time
breathe
blow the motherfucker out
make your own language
your own words are all you need
bleed
in metaphor/in jest/incognito
you are indomitable
woman/child
stop weeping/stop caterwauling/all that/endless bellyaching
your song/your story is all you have
so wield it/sling it/blade and bloody
fall
but get up
open your throat/your hands
your heart is nothing but an open thruway
drive/little girl/drive
let that wind dry your face
your fingers
your fears
feel the fury of your faith
fate ain’t got nothing on you
water ain’t nothing but water
swim/little girl/swim
put those pretty little notes in a brown bottle
and keep them sailing
out to sea