Suddenly I Need One Thing Constant

Suddenly, I Need One Thing Constant

By Ekere Tallie

Poets should just

bring poetry

blank books and pens

passports and visas

and something rooted

something rooted

for the lives we will

eventually want

not the imitations of

our mentors stumblings

the ancient lovers never loved

upheaval following us like stubborn

ghosts

poets should bring something rooted

II.

Wherever I go

I drag my mistakes

and my memory of the mistakes

of others. Wherever I go

I have to tell my stories

of crashings and rantings

and passion and laughing of praying

of living and forgetting how to breathe

wherever I go

I start again:

a woman hates me

a man loves me

I meet people

I write

then I wonder, what is that far off sound

that call from another side of the ocean

what’s the name of that place

what language do they speak

how much does it cost to get there

and then I’m gone

leaving behind everything I wished for

making another list

III.

Stay with me.

Wherever I go

I want you

* * * * *

6/22/01--Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie

Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie is a poet, writer and journalist. Her poetry and fiction have been published in several journals in the United States, France and South Africa including: Bomb, Long Shot, Paris/Atlantic, Drumvoices Revue, Carapace. Her works have been anthologized in Listen Up! (One World/Ballantine) and Catch The Fire!!! (Penguin/ Putnam) Bum Rush The Page: A Def Poetry Jam (Random House), Role Call (Third World Press). Ms. Tallie is Contributing Writer for African Voices literary magazine where she has worked since 1995. Ms. Tallie performs her poetry regularly and has been a featured reader at the De Nachten Festivals in Holland and Belgium, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Brooklyn Moon Cafe, Rutgers University, Hunter College, Barnes and Noble, Bryant Park, Mills College, Brooklyn Public library. She has collaborated with dancers and musicians, most notably for the "Jazz and the Spoken Word "segment of the Panasonic Village Jazz Festival, with Mingus Amungus in California and Words and Waistbeads Womans Collective in New York City. Ms Tallie also worked with Gerard Gaskin and Caroline Poon for an exhibition of words, photography and pottery titled "The Experiment." In 1999 Ms. Tallie was awarded a residency at Fundacion Valparaiso in Almeria, Spain. She has work forthcoming in Beyond The Frontier, (Black Classic Press), The Body Eclectic (Henry Holt) and The Book of Hope (Beyond Borders).

Education

Master of Fine Arts English/Creative Writing Mills College, Dec 2001
Ploughshares International Writing Seminar Kasteel Well, Netherlands Emerson College, 1998
Bachelor of Arts, Mass Communication Clark Atlanta University, 1996

"Love is a story that we never stop telling" Veronique Tadjo

http://www.ekeretallie.com