…embodying Oshun….from Jessica Horn’s debut poetry chapbook Speaking in Tongues.
yellow petal falls
into oshun’s river,
flows golden
*
waterspirit awakens inside
our pores bloom with drumbeats
melodious skin
*
I cover my hair with
white cloth, bathe in amber water-
falls of drumspeaksound
*
intoxicated
by space and sighs
we travel
from neck to ankle
charting
our incompleteness
our
divine humanity
*
we dreamed
we dreamed
we dreamed
we could
make love
to music
ride high
on the sound
that slips off
leather and
mango wood
old
in its sap and
skin
*
purpleblueblackpurpleblueblackbeads
purple blue black
purple blue black beads
skins beads sweat beads skin
salt wet salt skin salt wet salt
tongue. teeth. thighs.
(c) Jessica Horn