I am the creation of words

I am the creation of words

 

I am the creation of words

my hair fingered by countless 

lovers .. my skin caressed, 

slapped, cut, imprisoned

and freed by thousands of

hands - calloused, gentle, 

manicured, newborn, aged, 

drenched in filth and courtly 

perfume

I am the creation of words

swallowed in greedy gulps

in childhood beds and 

Caribbean sea shores

on grandmother’s velvet couch 

in university libraries, subways

railroads, and jet planes – 

my eyes fill with cinders of

bodies burnt, squinting in 

rabbit holes, insane asylums

train stations, savannas stretching

I roam - ingest verdant fields,  

slumber in feather-beds, forests, 

city streets, grandfather’s straw bed, 

roll in ecstasy in gardens, 

under brilliant skies, torrential rains

tornadoes, tsunamis, drenched in 

weather, in love, in hate, in pity, in

horror, in exultation, in adoration, in

mysticism, magic and math, mania,

madness, mindfulness, each image

intractably impressed retina to soul

I am the rallying cries, and solitary 

screams for help, for joy, for justice, 

for grief, for pain, for pleasure each 

echoing in the chambers of ear to heart

I taste each swallow- though mere words

may be lost – I am the worded creation - 

the lyric legacy of countless pages has

formed me, informed me, 

terrified, teased, tormented, 

tickled, transformed the 

constant metamorphosis

the shimmering murmuration 

of fluttering leaves digested

whole into my blood, bone,

mind and soul … 

I am so titled 

stamped 

and numbered 

indelible volume