How She Read

How She Read

 

 

Oh, how she read this. Girl

beloved daughter of daughters

blood, kin, and kind

 

sagacious grammarian

post-fly phoneticist

 

every syllable she say be sapphires

 

 

Oh, how she read that Girl

beloved daughter of daughters

blood, kin, and kind

 

sassy semiotician

post-def decoder

 

every book she crack parts oceans,

sends waves rushing back to their shores

 

every page she turn sets free a caged bird,

whose wings are spread and ready for flight

 

 

Oh, how she read, this Girl

beloved daughter of daughters

blood, kin, and kind,

 

post-dope dissenter

mos-bomb seditionist

 

every word she speak be a teeth-sucking act of resistance

 

every word she write be a battle cry

 

every tap of her pen be the beat of an ancestor's drum 

Bibliographical info
Note from the author: students might consider thinking of ways we communicate not in words, like sighs, sounds, shrugs, gestures--that is what the marks in the book communicate--other ways of communicating...maybe they can think of a word or a gesture in their own languages that fills in that space or launches the poem--or maybe it's a breath or silence...
 
Chantal Gibson, "How She Read" from How She Read. Copyright © 2019 by Chantal Gibson. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
 
Source: How She Read (Caitlin Press Inc, 2019)
 
 
Start here: