clouds

i think about the clouds / when i am tired i say

things i don’t mean / my anger thunder / day dark and blue

clouds

By Bro. Yao

coiled around the earth

silent mother’s who hear

their children say terrible

things and wonder

if all will be alright

smoke or the children

of fire, sometimes pregnant

with rain or flat and stretched

like the words of a lover

who will not say i love you

i think about the clouds

when i am tired i say

things i don’t mean

my anger thunder

day dark and blue

forgive me for having

to breathe the dusk

each day into my lungs

or singing along

with the radio out of tune

i am a man trying

hard not to disappear

trying hard to stay

just above the world

* * * * *

Bro. Yao is an alumni of Bowie State University and the University of Maryland College Park, where he received an M.F.A. in Poetry. His work has been published in various journals and anthologies including Crab Orchard Review, African American Review, Soul Fires and Beyond the Frontier.