When I was a girl

By Mary Weems

I used to believe:
the moon left the sky
at dawn like a worker on third shift
picking up the stars
the change in her pocket
going home to a man
waiting with breakfast on the universe
 
pee and babies came
from the same place
babies as rare as Black dolls
breast feeding the eating
of nipples by fathers
at midnight
 
I used to believe:
all children lived with roaches
had to be home when the streetlights came on
electric alarm clocks
that made our street empty
like the corner bar after last call
 
Santa Claus was Black
drove a carriage with a drop top
Rudolph and his boys a reindeer
jazz combo gigging with Miles
in the off season
 
death was an option
a pick one out of three
after a really bad day
“This is Your Life”
a lever that opened
the door to the next room
they entered dressed in a red suit
bought for the occasion
 
I used to believe:
love was something every
body carried around like breath
giving and getting it back
as blood moves from the heart
to the pinky toes
 
I used to believe:
the Creator listened to everything everybody thought
until I stood in our backyard bigger
than the world one morning
started calling the ancestors
out of the sky to talk
 
hate was a disease crazy
people caught who forgot
that one day they will be the ash
in a dustpan
swept by God.

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