But a Storm is Blowing From Paradise

In the Democracy of Afflictions,

85 In the Democracy of Afflictions, it is fact & well known that the white man comes like a gangster always arrives like a pilgrim in turkey’s clothing that when he comes he comes mad with the knowledge he comes into that where man cannot live what bird could fare & the black man knows the way in is the way out that the menu is not the meal that the trouble is light hear him call to you from across the supermarket parking lot suggest that you smile more shorty if you tried, you could brighten 86 and what greater purpose is there for a woman to have— the face an announcement —a bulb burning contrary to night branches after a fire has fallen and ash dampens with nightdew— careful not to look past the next footfall in the valley forced up by the wind the pale side of the leaf to face you: not the wound on the tree its barked over evidence of illness but the gully where you must go to gather wood something troubled is breathing. ...