National Poetry Month: Ghost Fishing Excerpt Three

In honor of Earth day this Sunday, we’ve decided to spotlight three poems from Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology edited by Melissa Tuckey. Ghost Fishing is a gathering of poetry at the intersection of culture, social justice, and the environment.

cutting greens

Lucille Clifton

 

curling them around

i hold their bodies in obscene embrace

thinking of everything but kinship.

collards and kale

strain against each strange other

away from my kissmaking hand and

the iron bedpot.

the pot is black,

the cutting board is black,

my hand,

and just for a minute

the greens roll black under the knife,

and the kitchen twists dark on its spine

and i taste in my natural appetite

the bond of live things everywhere.

Ghost Fishing edited by Melissa Tuckey