after lucille clifton

won't you celebrate with me
the cylindrical universes
that take us through worm holes
from one galaxy to another?

time isn't as linear as we think
celebrate forward journeys,
little stars I see out eye corners
when I get up too fast

won't you celebrate with me
how our bodies move together?
where they land when they stop?

I'm trying to save memory remnants
about my dead father
to save my jaw from clenching
my mind from getting too jam-packed
with information
and my heart from splintering
from burden
to save the breath of cool
that comforts in summer

Don't panic.
Don't fall apart.
Don't eat sugar.
Don't trip on your face.
Don't forget to exercise.

sing out music
sing out change
try to save a life

every revolution
needs a dagger
that starts to guide us
wind to our engines

every revolution
needs hunger

poetry can't die
because we're always thinking

because babies are born
and their voices string together
unicorns with water balloons

poetry can't die
because here I am
and I need poems to live

because birds bring messages
from one country to another
the strongest of us
the bravest

because warm cloaks, sleep, fists, paper

when I die, poems can't
because the sea, the mountains
psychic pulse drops

because birds bring messages from one country to another. Photo by Fabrizio Verrecchia on Unsplash