Black Madonna

When you have a ghost

for a mother you learn

silence speaks in tongues

Your voice echoes in our halls-

a holy hallelujah

Praise be the hips that bent for me to be here Bloodied- Splintered Christ

A body broke itself so I might

know life

Praise be the breasts I suckled before the holy war claimed you martyr

claimed them cancerous

claimed you crucified

I rolled the stone away

and was met with your absence

Drank absinthe and was met with your spirit

Hallowed be thy name

Hollowed be the body

I crawl back into, until communion when we break again

This time, I am your Mother

You named me Monique

Madonna

Mother of Christ

I wear a crucifix over my heart:

a reminder

the day you gave your life

Here, you will lay your wooly head

I will swaddle you in the same arms I crawled out of you with

Wash your feet with the same hands

I prayed for you

Watched the sky for your return

I waited, sought signs in soot of candles burned

I buried my blood with the roses

I weeped like willows

Like Mary on the Mount

her son crowned with thorns

33 when you conceived me

God’s children grow wings too soon

My womb waits for you