TOOLS

A woman's body has everything in it

to save her life

if you must

use your legs as raft

heel as hammer

teeth as machete

 

monthly blood as healing salve

milk for building

breasts as shelter

learn to breathe

use your locks to suture every wound

learn to scream

learn to scream

learn to speak

learn to live 

within the smallest muscle of your heart

learn to speak  to speak



Cheryl Boyce-Taylor is the author of seven collections of poetry. In 2021 her verse memoir, Mama Phife Represents, won The Publishing Triangle’s Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry. It is about her son, Malik, aka Hip Hop Legend, Phife Dawg of A Tribe Called Quest. Her latest collection, The Limitless Heart: New and Selected Poems, won the 2024 CLMP Firecracker Award in Poetry.