- Origin
i am the woman gave birth to you at 13 they called me Sister it makes sense me being her come to watch you
wasn’t there when Aunt Tee pinned your night clothes to her gown so you wouldn’t roll out the bed
wasn’t when Miz Henrietta stood you at 4 years on a church table to croon “A Charge to Keep I Have”
all the women fell out? i don’t believe a l’il boy with red curls and knickers did all that
i know you buried those sissy pants in the woods 13 years like water that’s why we can relate today
not when you say stuff like “That girl should’ve never been in Mike Tyson’s room” and you don’t understand why women stay with men who hit i had you to tell me to walk away
that’s when i notice the 40 year span though we’re really the same age i’m your mama Sister and your daughter no, i didn’t sleep with passant blanc granpa he’s grey dead slept with one young girl too many
Georgeanne’s picture grew in me i stared so long her eyes are mine [End Page 522]
you need watching you help people more than you help yourself
Georgeanne your mama my other self gave cousins friends strangers clothes off her back clothes just bought in Birmingham
you would stomp dirt roads just paved last week streets make house calls
get back every last dress or faux alligator shoe
you just like her just like Sister soft-hearted all of us Pickens County Neviths soft-hearted and mean as the devil
you really can’t mess with us we cry all the time
Janice Lowe teaches creative writing workshops in libraries and schools throughout New York City. Her poems have appeared in In the Tradition: An Anthology of Young Black Writers and Callaloo, in which she has made her third appearance. She is not only a poet but also a playwright and a composer of music.