Jessica Harris
Road Trip
it’s the two thousand three hundred twenty miles river flowing
south only back peddled once but stayed full
a vein carved out in the land
the steam that whisper from the hot comb on the stove of the wooden panel house with no street name,
just a few turns kicking up dust following that pulling inside until you’re greeted with
an applause from a screen door
lush jade valley swelling with heat and drawl voices stretched across a city then county lines
that mix and match like socks who made it through a wash-n-dry and still found themselves
on a body with purpose
toss the head back laughter that sprints out of parted lips breathing and giving
color to the room sounds of tongues who praise & remember and somehow can’t
figure out how they know mercy is merci
a black bottom iron-wielded pot turned into magic
with a pinch of salt, squirts of hot sauce and secrets—but good
enough to salve and keep doing the greater works
bebe it’s you
thighs, skinned knees, tawny arms with gold bracelets
mama aunty uncle jimmy’s truck
and three cousins over that way
it’s them with no time a face that looks like the matriarch
and I am home
A Wreath for Surya Bonaly
your leotard bright and metallic
face aflame with passion
quad toe loop with shoelaces
petrified by the stinging cold
yet they would never see you
they pressed the judas silver
onto your collar bone
cheapening you before the world
your tears anointing the platform
of protest & betrayal
you knew
that your face could not receive
the gracelessness masqueraded as victory
and you stretched your tights free
forever black limbs
into the air closed your eyes
and rose above the quartet
of jealous whispers,
suffocating hate
--to give the world
a pearled onyx ass to kiss
Jessica E. Harris received her MFA in creative writing from American University. There she co-taught a course on Black feminism poetry through selections by Rita Dove, Lucille Clifton, and the Black Girl Magic anthology. In 2018, she received honorable mention in the AWP Intro to Poetry Series. She was later nominated for Best New Poet by the Department of Literature at AU. Her poem “Baltimore Ain’t Hard Just to Live appeared in the Fall/Winter 2019 issue of Poet Lore. She resides in Washington D.C.