She crosses her arms

and pats her shoulders

as she stands at

the podium having

written about the horror

of female

mutilation, the joys of

straight, bisexual and

lesbian love and the

stark reality of

black male violence

against women and

children out of

utter frustration in

a lily-white super

violent world of

slavery that has lasted

now into Congress and in

all the euphemistic

stuff which translates

into crass, banal, devious,

just under the surface

Emmett Till reality

and such may be the

story of suffering –

here, there,

everywhere and she

pats her shoulders in a

sign of deep

appreciation for

people honoring

her expose

of utter, otherwise,

inexpressible humiliations

and horrors and in

those exposes is heard,

just in the naming, the

sweet sound of

hope.