For Charles White: Mississippi Bound

American Poetry Review, The, Jul/Aug 2002 by Zu-Bolton, Ahmos III

I watched him slowly cave in,

inside himself, where the world

knew how to take the death of his favorite aunt,

inside himself where her dying conjured

private worlds, special times

sacred words and images captured

not so long ago

but a world ago nonetheless,

I like the idea of death being a door,

I like rainy funerals

sad tears washing away our blues

into a rainbow of quick memories

that lean against us

and make us smile

The door she passed thru

mirrored her life,

it has that meaning,

this is the best we can

pray for.

AHMOS ZU-BOLTON II is Visiting Writer-in-Residence for Black Studies at the University of Missouri. His most recent book is Ain't No Spring Chicken (Voice Foundation, 1998). The poems in this selection are from his forthcoming book, Every Once In A Long While.

photograph by Stephen Bybee