Sarah Myles Spencer
Says the Blood to the Slave Trader
I saw you there once,
head, cloud thick,
smoking your ruins.
There is a room and a loneliness
inside it. A black hole
itch I cannot reach.
A piece
missing.
All the mestizo in one room;
an island, chamber
of a gun. Who did we see
if not for ourselves?
Girl.
Ache.
Skin.
Revolt.
Small death in a new tongue.
A song for each haunted
daughter and son.
First born.
First to see.
First stolen.
I am the one
you forgot, Spaniard.
The low howl. Night
skin. Big mouth grin.
A blood witch
unknown to her
own power. Still
will never crawl.
No rope.
No chain.
No whip.
I have already died
as many deaths
as the body can. I am
a room full, ocean
floor of limbs, slow
translation. There is
nothing common
in this blood. Rumor
is it lingers. Can spit
itself back into body.
Back into what survives.
Did you know I could
levitate?
I built this room.
Everything in it
is mine.
Sarah Myles Spencer is a mama, poet, singer/songwriter who’s worked with a variety of artists, including Snoop Dog, E-40, and (the late) Davy Jones. A multi-time Best of the Net Nominee and Pink Door Fellow, her work appears in Drunk in a Midnight Choir, A La Palabra: The Word is a Woman Anthology – Mothers & Daughters, Words Dance Magazine, Requiem Magazine, and more. For more info, visit www.sarahmylesspencer.com