POEM: SAND CYCLE—BLACK SHINE RISING
Sand Cycle—Black Shine Rising (a turning/for Cassandra) i do not desire to be ordinary nor special what i seek is the irreducible simplicity of relevance i am what warm sun is to planted seeds cloistered in dark earth do not mistake me for conventional ground for i am light i might never reproduce but my transformation is its own birth movement is the essential property of my luminosity i can no more be confined than can a sunbeam be boxed though despair sometimes assails me, like every good african i rise from conformity's floor singing, dancing even when my face be awash with pain tears my shining lucidity remains free, thank god, of self pity's enchaining tyranny —kalamu ya salaam
