poetry
spring/summer 2019
March
for Malik
by Cheryl Boyce -Taylor
​
Damn the month of March
And that war of spring
That wrestled you from my grasp
I heard the moon tried to hold you
Between her fingertips
But your breath refused to let go
Of its lassoed notes.
WITHOUT A KISS
by Cheryl Boyce-Taylor
​
Ode to the hands toting wine to the water gods
ode to the feet's mournful stride
ode to the market the marrow of bird's copper wings
ode to the insulin needle that became a knife
ode to the fresh chased ambulance
ode to the dusty spirit and the buried treasures in the chest
ode to this gypsy life where once a lit candle led the trail to each dream ode to the dis favored heart a provoked bear and
it's shameless trampled sting
ode to the night that mourns the sun the son
and the lips that cursed and left without a kiss.
Cheryl Boyce-Taylor is a poet and workshop facilitator. A recipient of the 2015 Barnes and Noble Writers For Writers Award, she is the founder and curator of Calypso Muse and the Glitter Pomegranate Performance Series. Cheryl earned her MFA in Poetry from Stonecoast: The University of Southern Maine, and an MSW from Fordham University. She is the author of three collections of poetry: Raw Air, Night When Moon Follows and Convincing The Body. A VONA fellow, her work has been published in: Adrienne, Prairie Schooner, and Pluck. Her new collection Arrival will be out in June 2017, from Northwestern University Press.