Cutting Greens
POETRY FORMAT, 23 Jul 2018
Lucille Clifton – TRANSCEND Media Service
Curling them around
I hold their bodies in obscene embrace
thinking of everything but kinship.
Collards and kale
strain against each strange other
away from my kissmaking hand and
the iron bedpot.
the pot is black,
the cutting board is black,
my hand,
and just for a minute
the greens roll black under the knife,
and the kitchen twists dark on its spine
and I taste in my natural appetite
the bond of live things everywhere.
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“Cutting greens” originally appeared in Lucille Clifton (Jun 27, 1936–Feb 13, 2010) 1987 memoir and poetry collection, Good Woman (public library).
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 23 Jul 2018.
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