The Fresno Poems: "I Will Go into the City"

The following poem will resound as long and as deeply as any love poem ever written by anyone: Shakespeare, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonja Sanchez, Maya et al.
--Fahizah Alim

I Will Go into the City

for S.J.

I will go into the city

I will find work

I will find work

I will remember you, country woman

I will not forget you

Your laugh, your arguments

In order to learn

It is your way, let it be

How can I forget your lips

Your enchanting smile

I will not forget

The night we walked in the rain

Because it was free and we were free

For once we agree

The best of life is free

I will go into the city

I will find work

But you will be with me, country woman

When those city woman come to devour me

With their sweet perfume

You will be there

Your spirit will protect me

I will never forget

How we sipped $1.00 margaritas

In the Mexican café in Chinatown

Our ride to the lake

Our picnic on the hill

The ranger spotted us with his binoculars

We did not care

We were filled

With the holy spirit of love

How can I forget

Hours in bed

We became children

Of the love spirit

Days, nights, mornings

Became one moment

Man and woman became one

Discovered their missing self

Eternal self

Self of love

Self of joy

Self of happiness realized

I will go into the city

I will find work

I will not forget you, country woman

I will return to claim you

In the name of love

I will claim you

Because you are woman

I will claim you

Because you are feeling and spirit

I will claim you

Because you are mind and beauty

I will claim you

Because you have given yourself to me so totally

I will claim you

In the name of Allah

I will claim you

For the glory of Allah

I will claim you.

--Marvin X

From Selected Poems, Marvin X, Black Bird Press, 1979.