Yusef Komunyakaa

“Whoever said men hit harder when women are around, is right. Word for word, we beat the love out of each other.”

“My doors enter from the sidestreet,my windows painted basement black,my mouth kisses the blues harp,my heart hides like noteslocked in a cedar chest.”

“Foolhearted mindreader,help us see howthe heart begs,how fangs of opprobrium possess our eyes.”

“I’ve been here before, dreaming myselfbackwards, among grappling hooks of light.True to the seasons, I’ve lived every wordspoken. Did I walk into someone’s nightmare?”

“Now I have beaten a song back into you, rise and walk away like a panther.”

“I ate mythology & dreamt'- Yusef Komunyakaa (Blackberries)”

“I am this space my body believes in.”

“Title: Blue Light Lounge Sutra For The Performance Poets At Harold Park Hotelthe need gotta beso deep words can'tanswer simple questionsall night long notesstumble off the tongue& color the air indigoso deep fragments of gut& flesh cling to the songyou gotta get into itso deep salt crystalizes on eyelashesthe need gotta beso deep you can vomit up ghosts& not feel brokentill you are no morethan a half ounce of goldin painful brightnessyou gotta get into itblow that saxophoneso deep all the sex & dope in this worldcan't erase your needto howl against the skythe need gotta beso deep you can'tjust wiggle your hips& rise up out of itchaos in the cosmosmodern man in the pepperpotyou gotta get hookedinto every hungry grooveso deep the bomb lockedin rust opens like a fistinto it into it so deeprhythm is pre-memorythe need gotta be basicanimal need to see& know the terrorwe are made of honeycause if you wanna dancethis boogie be readyto let the devil use your headfor a drum”