after Aracelis Girmay
for Renee
If we are young & our minds
have quelled within us
let us rise
& if we have raised our enemies & worn
spirits whole by whole & if
we have stood & mended our gloves
& stood again let us rise,
If we have become numb & if we
have opened the windows,
assembled our fingers with flowers,
let us rise
If we have spit the seeds & kissed
our tongues & removed our lips to the outside
of the blue concrete sky & peeled up our breath
young as clouds, rivers
let us rise
If we have kept our stories & washed dishes & yanked bedsheets
let us rise
& given our bodies to other bodies
let us rise
If we have excited & closed &
closed our mouths, let us rise & if
we have drowned in lakes on the belly of a crow
& heard their fists
& blew candles
& felt the cactus thorn
& spit up fruit
let us rise. If we
have smelled sugar & our elbows have numbed the sky
let us rise
If we have drawn our own hands let us rise
& when our hands have numbed the backs of other hands
let us rise
& if we are young and far from zig-zagged
& all our muscles have crawled outside us
& if we have pulled weeds & whispered
through the eyes of needles let us rise
& if we have found our fathers
& called our sisters close & talked story
& if we have heard the dust from trains
let us rise
& if we have been stilled
for that & for this
& hummed the melodies
& obeyed & if we have stayed
& stayed
& stayed
& stayed
let us rise.