li’s song: the first attempt

the heart that began that world                                                 and you were no longer you

the turtle looked up when you drew your first breath           but a groundswell

the sky was indigo and quivering silence                                  you knew the long wail

                                                                                                          covered in dirt and banana leaves

but the day was foreign                                                                pushing up concrete on your back

broken by foreigners                                                                     fighting bullets with song

                                                                                                          dying and never dead,

it was war in the fields                                                                  the note trembling

over the cities

war beneath the cruel word of kindness                                  and now the name glitters a thousand thousand

sinking deep into the belly                                                          strong

with poison                                                                                     in your hesitant breath

and you took it all unsuspecting                                                 you speak many and shake in your slender courage

drinking with your heart                                                              you labor with history in your loins

draining the cup                                                                            a volcano in your leg

not feeling the lye until the blood showed                               a banyan tree wrapping your spine

                                                                                                          your words are grapes and wrath

you cried and their name appeared on your lip                      your trembling touch

you obeyed and it was your debasement                                 tumbles walls

you saw the trap in your tiny dark burrow

and carefully hid your diamond tongue                                   it is i who fall

hands became your coin, your trade                                        i fall inside my people

soft and softening, caressing the trouble                                i have been falling for a millennium

soothing the broken skin                                                            before your pointing finger

mending bone they could have broken                                    i fall outside

until you retched                                                                          only in your burning

                                                                                                         have i discovered my seed

and your mama’s face cut your lung                                         is released

your grandmother looked straight out through your            by fire

intestine

your people climbed up your gullet                                          and now i am

with blood on their tongues                                                       fire and burning

and you spoke, retching                                                              and there is a world to be cleared

and understood sickness                                                            by flame and kisses

in being sick                                                                                  by tears like rivers of ancestors

and cursed it                                                                                 and your tongue names it

                                                                                                         and my heart wills it

you climbed through the night                                                  and the gods dream it

into the deception of noon

and found the lie white with fever                                            and wait for us