DonJea Smith

HEALING

Love, the way we know it:

we’re on fire throw

oil on it

I ain’t ready for gold

or HEALING

They will not respect your

Bigness

And you must not kill them

Even though that is so instinctive

We owe ourselves love

We mourn under red light to

feed the violence sitting in time out near the pancreas

never knowing where to place power

Well, power is nothing when it ain’t shit

I Said Yeah, Right

You should be an English teacher.

That is what my first Black English teacher

Told me.

I said yeah, right

And here I am, almost something like an English teacher

A black English teacher

not even trying to teach

English, but Ebonics.

Now, I know what I’ve learned up until this point:

Always listen to black women who look at you like they know what they

Talking about

You can know if the energy from a look

You receive

Is genuine