Sand Cycle—Black Shine Rising
(a turning/for Cassandra)
i do not desire to be ordinary nor special
what i seek is the irreducible simplicity of relevance
i am what warm sun is to planted seeds
cloistered in dark earth
do not mistake me for conventional ground
for i am light
i might never reproduce but my transformation
is its own birth
movement is the essential property of my luminosity
i can no more be confined than can a sunbeam be boxed
though despair sometimes assails me, like every good african
i rise from conformity's floor singing, dancing even when
my face be awash with pain tears my shining lucidity remains
free, thank god, of self pity's enchaining tyranny
—kalamu ya salaam