Sequences

how sad it must be
to love so many women
to need so many black
perfumed bodies weeping
underneath you.
           when i remember all those nights
i filled my mind with
long wars between short
sighted trojans & greeks
while you slapped some
wide hips about in
your pvt dungeon,
when i remember your
deformity       i want to
do something about your
makeshift manhood.
i guess
          that is why
on meeting your sixth
wife, i cross myself
with her confessionals.

Sonia Sanchez is the Laura Carnell Professor of English at Temple University, where she serves as Director of Women's Studies. She has published 13 books of poetry, the most recent being Does Your House Have Lions?, Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums, and Shake Loose My Skin. She has won several awards for her poetry, including the Lucretia Mott Award, a Pew Fellowship, and the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Humanities (Pennsylvania). Does Your House Have Lions? was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1998.

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