Geballe Prize Winner 2020 | Poetry, Imani Nothando

Imani Ncube
Class of 2021
ushabti
Poetry

ushabti
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
lay my aching back near the river
and speak easy eternity over this body.
may I never again find myself on my knees begging
for mercy.
let sweetwater guide me home,
spooning honey into cadaver.
let dark matter consume my form,
spinning me into golden thread,
into folklore,
into sandstorm.
let me shed
this forsaken Black.
take me back to before this body.
take me back
take me back
take me back.
they have taken all my bones.
milked me dry;
can’t stand one more second
of this till and toil.
been walking dead for decades now
and I want to see the sky, finally.
I haven’t had time to cry since I was
six.
scribble my name and weep for me.
I am ready to float, finally.