photo Ken Johnson
love
each other
love
everyone
no matter
what color
love
brothers
sisters
love
Mama taught
Her Christian Science made us know "the truth"
truth is
ain't no love like Mama's love
Nietzsche said Mother Love turns to smother love
so we suffocated
Mama drowned us in her love
all in our bizness
especially her six daughters
classic matriarch
I don't like none of them nigguhs you girls wit
ain't none of them nigguhs shit
Mama
keep out of other people's business
no way jose
love was her business
then Mama died
all the love she tried
to build between us siblings
crumbled
so much crust of bread
dust
sand
love became hate
or was it hate all the time
just waiting for Mama to leave room
so we could call each other dirty hoes
bitches
punk motherfuckers
ass holes.
Did we love
for love
or love for Mama
love is eternal
Mama ephemeral
we loved for Mama
Mama alone
so loved turned to hate
hate to violence
violence to silence
we don't talk
don't call
don't write
meet at funerals only
if then.
and don't talk then
avoid the eyes
revealing truth we want so hard
to deny
that
in fact
in deed
we do
love.
from Love and War, poems, Marvin X, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 1995.
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