Yu Gef fo Creep*...

Delila hovers seamlessly/drapes over crowded streets

in twilight dance/burgandy brown

face stoned/a burden revealing 

unknown/ silent lines

slumped sillouette singing

window pains/catches morning corner stress

she 

hums away the weariness

in stuttered sound and

muted beat

song slips around periphery/discordant sounding

un able to pass

subtly seeming

she says 

what 

of this tension teasing her

back to this place...

 

l.g. kanga

*Yu Gef fo Creep befo yu tenap: Krio for You got to crawl before you stand

Me Dirty Dirty Love

I thought I was going batty until I hung out with my gyrl LG and threw back some Hennesey on Baltimore Ave in the Illadelph. I was feeling a bit disoriented because the faces in the city of brotherly love seem bent and broken. She taught me the Krio phrase "Don't look me by the looking," which is similar to "Don't judge a book by its cover." Maybe its the fact that for two years in a row Philly heads up the list of urban centers in 'merica with the highest murder rate. Why are black folks killing each other? This is especially true when it comes to young black men in Africa's diaspora. This time back home I realize I am "just come" another Krio phrase for people coming back home from studying or living abroad. I also realize the true meaning of the words home is where the hatred is...for more reasons than not it's good to air our collective dirty laundry, even if it means breaking fragile bonds that hang by a single thread on a sagging clothesline, then reordering that chaos into an artistic expression that gives shape, form and meaning. Me, LG and Michelle met online today and discussed the forthcoming anthology. We are trying to contain the excitement and channel our energy into the work. If you stumble across this page and are inspired to write your poem, your story please send them to lavanderiazspot@gmail.com. Sometimes love's so downright dirty dirty that it repeats its own name. But if we ain't lovin' then how we livin'?

Call for Submissions

Anthology, Lavanderia: A Mixed Load of Women, Wash and Word seeks submissions: fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction signifying the metaphor of sorting, washing, ironing, folding laundry and life. www.city workspress for submission guidelines. Deadline: December 15th. Maximum 5,000 words or 5 poems. Include a bio. Email word doc submissions only to lavanderiazspot@gmail.com. 

"Take me to the dirty depths, show me a fresh face amidst the hollow masses decayed in dampened dirt, musty smells discarded as she cascades down narrow steps. I need the red dress to hand to her as she passes by, whisping away the only hope I have left, as my smile disintergrates into a dusted oblivion."

Michelle Sierra