after “Born Again and Again” by DaMaris B. Hill, Breath Better Spent
“Your woman tongue can hoist bodies into heaven.”
That’s why I keep my
lips lightly rouged,
pressed, rarely wet.
My mouth opens
only upon conviction.
Heaven got no rooms for irreverent
‘hoes, liars, cheats, beasts.
Meanwhile, hell writing another bill of sale,
buying territory for expansion,
gentrifying dreams, redlining
degrees of treachery.
In a world of flames,
rent ain’t affordable.
My mouth opens
only upon conviction
in case heaven runs short-
free rooms Gabriel
prematurely assigned.
Tamara J. Madison, poet, writer, and editor, is the author of Threed, This Road Not Damascus (Trio House Press – print and EAT Poems – audio). Her writing is inspired by her ancestry and relations. Her work has been reviewed and published in various journals and literary magazines including The Amistad, Appalachian Review, Poetry International, Cider Press Review, and World Literature Today. Tamara has also shared her poetry on the TEDx platform. She is a MFA graduate of New England College and an Anaphora Arts and Ucross fellow. She currently teaches English and Creative Writing and is completing a new full-length mixed-genre collection. Find her @tamarajmadison on Instagram, Facebook, and X/Twitter.
the Decolonial Passage 