A Proclamation Ashaki M. Jackson

 

A Proclamation

Ashaki M. Jackson

Our bodies give into the ocean rolling      us beneath its tongues     How do we sing our loss with water brimming our throats? Oh Sea, You are greedy and transform us—      our faces soft and opening You do not wash but strike and shove   You rinse babies from our arms     leave husbands waiting      We spin in your disregard   You upend this body We praise your ruin                                           Our monuments rooting bones in all shores

Copyright © 2020 by Ashaki M. Jackson. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 11, 2020, by the Academy of American Poets.