for ai (28)

traveling at the velocity of darkness

for ai

you’ve done it as you warned me you would
and left the fetus wrapped in wax paper
for me to look at. my son…
from “abortion”

simply a writer, u call yrself,
the flow & headwaters of legion,
not the proverbial gerasene demon,
but of several uncommon human
streams, a living ethnic multiplicity;

u know much about connection &
connectivity, tying together loose
ends, lending yr scream & sotto voce
to those who cannot/will not speak.
u know, too, about transcendence.

in quilting together the pieces of yr
own identity, the patchwork nisei,
tchakta, red talker, african & druid,
u learned to rotary cut & poet/piece
the fabrics of narrative & dramatic

monologue, sandwich with batting &
backing the layers of tragic violence –
the rape, murder, incest, suicide,
abortion & abuse -- tying & binding
them with yarns of multicolored threads.

©Joseph McNair;2009