Contents
Fire
Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat
Body Apology
Outside the Canon: Words to Never Use
Southern Foreclosures
Home-Going Celebration
Exit Speech
Black Boy Painted Butterfly
Collaring Our Native Tongues
Mad. Black. Bird.
Van Gogh Paints a Hymn
Circus Acts : No More Black Girl Magic
Making Counterfeit Again
American Made
Assembly Required for Assimilation
Wind and Water
Wind Dance
Cumulus Clouds
Garden Girl Heartbreak
Into the Woods
Full Moon to Monday
All Hallowed Eve
Livestock
Tea Party at the Cemetery
Morning Glory
Heirloom
Mind of Missing Parts
Boil, Burn, Salve
Begging the Ground for Flames
Wind Watching
Mackerel
Shucking Oysters
Emergence
Earth and Spirit
Moving Mind
Mermaids and Ghost Ships
Mahalia Sings to Freedom
Buzzwords and Banned Books
Epilogue for Banned Books
Pastoral Blues
Horticulture
The Dance Hall of My Mother's Womb
Bone Collector
Before I Speak to the Matriarchs
Skyscraper Women
Southern Georgia Libretto I
Reclaiming our Phenomenal Bones
Southern Louisiana Libretto II
Even After the Dust Settles