Harper invites us to imagine the complete and utter powerlessness of people on the slave block, particularly of mothers. Defenseless, unheeded, bitter, frail, shrinking, mournful, desolate. The adjectives heap misery on misery.
MoreSympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, And the river flows like a stream of glass; When the first bird sings and the first bud opes, And the faint perfume […]
MorePeoples Drug by Sean Enright Now it’s the Oracle skyscraper but it was Peoples Drugstore back when I bought Raisinets, lighter fluid and label-makers, just a low building next to the pioneer-woman statue, silent stone town founder, a child gathered in her skirt folds, bonnet cinched tight, her birdlike chin, her stovepipe […]
MoreVariation on a Theme by Rilke by Denise Levertov A certain day became a presence to me; there it was, confronting me–a sky, air, light: a being. And before it started to descend from the height of noon, it leaned over and struck my shoulder as if with the flat of a sword, […]
MoreThe Weakness By Toi Derricotte That time my grandmother dragged me through the perfume aisles at Saks, she held me up by my arm, hissing, “Stand up,” through clenched teeth, her eyes bright as a dog’s cornered in the light. She said it over and over, as if she were Jesus, and I were […]
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