outcast you walked
through the streets
of sorek / but
head high
face dry
shoulders proud with rage
there are none more betrayed
than those forced to betray
delilah
you were dark
like me & africa:
a beautiful continent
easy to corrupt
ruined by a man
you could never hope to defeat
& left to burn
when by some miracle
you did
delilah
nobody cared
what happened behind closed doors
with the body of a brute who can’t bleed
bruised against yours
a fierce black woman
beating your way forward
in a world made for mythical white men
sick of tender purple eyes
& washing bloody fingerprints
from brown thighs
scared
& ready to try anything
delilah
you were the first supreme
to golden skinned sunday schoolers
everywhere / we committed judges 16:6
to memory / & said damn
she’s cool / I’m gonna be like her
conjured you in the churchyard
with tina turner legs
a james brown howl
& jackson five hair
turning rivers to moonshine
discipled by doo-wap girls
we cakewalked you across water
to gob-smacked fishermen
turning loaves to cornbread
& fish to fried chitterling
you better believe
you gave us something
all there was
in that good book for me was you
cause when you’re born
from original skin
you need something real to cling to
before chaka kahn/ etta james
& missy e
we had delilah
the very first supreme
A previous version of this poem appears in my chapbook 'Original Skin' (2008), available for the princely sum of $5 (they will even accept it in postage stamps I believe!) at http://www.picaropress.com.
Hey Maxine, firstly- i love your work! my name is Reqik and Im involved in starting an online African Australian Magazine which I would love to have you in, but can't seem to find out how to contact you. so if you check this- pls get back to me- its reqik@hotmail.com
ReplyDeletethanks
Maxine...where should I start? Your work to me, is totally amazing. Full of depth and delicious graphic words to savor throughout the day. You are truly a treasure.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really powerful and intellegent piece, your words have power to both hit hard and create a natural passage for further thought. Really good stuff.
ReplyDeleteI am awed by the strength in this, you are a superb poet/philosopher...
ReplyDeleteThankyou so much people. This is one of those pieces I am constantly tinkering with. I made a few small changes just before I posted it here, and now I feel it's finally at peace. I love turning history/legend on it's head, spinning it around some and seeing how it comes out.
ReplyDeleteReqik, welcome to my space. The magazine sounds fascinating. How did you find me? Will email you, for sure!
These words: delilah
ReplyDeletenobody cared
what happened behind closed doors
with the body of a brute who can’t bleed
bruised against yours
were like a vacuum that sucked me back inside a place and time, a situation I was lucky to escape with my life. You say important things Maxine, insightful and razor blade sharp. You have the knowledge and the groove.
I like this one as well as 'Summer' below. It has the politics of some of the other writing on your site, but not so overt.
ReplyDeletewhat can i say...agree with the rest. Intelligent, powerful, resonant.
ReplyDeleteMaxine,
ReplyDeleteReading your work is like opening Christmas presents. What a discovery...and thanks for commenting on my poems on "Catnip." Your words inspire me.
Thankyou for reading people - your company and comments keep me writing.
ReplyDeleteVal - Thankyou for speaking from the heart. I hope the poem coaxed and then calmed that memory, rather than antagonising it.
Timoteo - I hope those Christmas presents turn out to be what you always wanted, rather than santa socks :) See you at yours soon.
I loved the glimpse into a different consciousness, $5 is too less for too much
ReplyDeletehard to fake, harder to shed, this is ... original skin, awesome!
I agree with Katie above, this one is somehow gentler. Well done.
ReplyDeleteWow! I am so pleased to come across a poem of this quality. We've got something kindred going on. I've been working bible stories into contemporary idiom as well, so searching for the rhythms and images that lift them out of the cobwebs and out onto the sidewalk. This is a good poem that really takes off in the 6th verse, and rockets like some hot car to the finish line. Really well done. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThankyou Mental Mist, I'm flattered you think I'm selling myself short.
ReplyDeleteRichard (rwells), I'd love to read some of your bible story revivals - checked out your blog but couldn't find any. Isn't re-contextualising (that even a word?) these stories amazing. I love finding the humanity in them. And thankyou for visiting. Hope you come back to hang here soon.
Good Morning from my side of the great expanse. Volume I of my blog was retired due to tech problems, but I think you can get to the archive from here: Vol I
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm trying for is a "re-contextualization" (phew) of the Catholic Mass during Lent, and it's scattered about the archive, but here are the titles of the gospel stories:
Three for a Sunday* (scroll down to Lazarus - no pun intended)
The Temptation*
Summit*
Sight to the Man Born Blind*
When it Was Finished*
Shoot, I seem to have lost the Woman at the Well...
Last year I did the Demeter and Persephone Myth which is in the archive as This Drifting World (dtd May 28, 2008 - so almost to the day.) I'm trying to figure out how to combine the myth, the mass, and one other section into a book.
I certainly don't expect you to read all this, but it's there for the taking.
Maxine, thanks for your interest. I'll certainly be back to visit you, and if you'd like to set up an off-line conversation I'm at rwellsrwells@mac.com
PS: It's very hard to leave a comment, as the profile machine is a little hinky. It takes repeated tries for me. I dunno...
there is so much to this piece..passion,statements I felt it all the way through
ReplyDeleteI get such a joy visiting your site. I travel wothout leaving home. The above date and time stamp is june 10,2009 12:20 AM, yet here it's June 9th 10:17 AM.
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say about your poetry? I do not have enough command of the English language to say whats in my heart, so, 2 thumbs & 2 big toes up!
The names of your visitors and their different word usage has me feeling like I am on an island. I think I'll go take a swim. Well, no blue waters here, just the muddy Mississippi.
Btw, I'd love to hear you do the James Brown howl or sing Etta's "stumbling monday" ....you don't know anything about that *lol*
wow, if only my high school history text books were written like this, i might have paid more attention... i look forward to reading further...
ReplyDeletewell done indeed!
Thanks for the links Richard - tonight's my web-coasting night, but I might just stop by yours instead & bible-revise myself silly...
ReplyDeleteCarey - nice to see you here again. Not enough command of the English language? Pah! Nonsense & you know it. Stop the modesty, you're a killer wordsmith :)
Chico, thanks. Maybe one day all history will be poetry, rather than poetry being history. Amen.
Wow Richard - you are so right. Kindred. I have also written 'Eve', 'Mary' 'Lot's Wife'& 'Noah's Curse'. Will post them sometime.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else who digs this poem, check out Richard Wells blog (link in his comment above) for other Bible rewrites. Fantastic. Esp The Blind Man, and Temptation.