i speak of bones

    By Amin Sharif

i speak of bones--

picked and contentious

spread beneath the sea

from here to Africa

bleached and ancient--

ground into powder

and carried about the necks

of sunchildren & blues

people in the pouches 

of their hearts

bones played like

drumsticks

sounding the staccato

of our agony

footbones:

gone north

from plantations

rattled bones:

hung from trees

the dead and the living

bones mingled together

as spirit dancers 

of another world

i speak of bones

broken by hounds

and hoses

skulls cracked open

fleshy fruit

adorned & exposed 

by barren promises

in the valley 

of the dead bones

is where they want us 

to lay

dead bones are

silent & cannot scream

picked bones are naked

against time

contentious bones are

soon shattered by fists

but still I speak

of them

i shall send

my breath through

the hollow bone of hope

and call the dead 

from the sea

upon the rib 

cage of lost ancestors

i shall hang the strings

of yearnings

deeper than the sea

i speak of bones

polished & brightly shining

gnawed upon--

marrow sucked by things

unseen

bones shaken 

and tossed then thrown

again by the dark

hands of time

i speak of bones

shattered into sharp bits

lashed to the spear of today

held in restless hands

bleached and ancient

ground into powder

and carried about the necks

of spirit dancers,

sunchildren & blues people

in the pouches 

of their hearts

i speak of bones