on Toni Morrison's birthday [February 18th] at the NYS Writers Institute's
Tribute to Toni Morrison & Exhibit Unveiling
How peculiar it is to breed love
reproduce something lost in another time
yet the first I ever read The Bluest Eye
I thought, here is a book
holding the little girl of me in its pages
though I had wished for hazel eyes or
grey or the kind that change
with a season. I was searching for
myself somewhere. I found myself
rooting for Pecola to breed love
to make something
out of broken pieces
and when Sula Peace came round
I knew for sure, naming
a character must be like taking up
space like dancing open wide
like making the sun meet the ocean
just to name it something
how Sula means peace
You had me saying peace peace
like a mantra every time her name
rolled out my mouth.
You must have known
there's power in speaking a little
more peace into existence
when it runs low
and ain't a deeper love than to
Be loved in a narrative without
language, how magical it is
to read words that hug insides
that have been unraveled
bearing the language we've
been waiting for, how this
type of beauty works
harder to be seen but has
always been beautiful
playing in the dark,
wrapped in your pen
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