For Mary S.
Step on that line, she said
no demon-soul nor strife
may cross it, no bullet fire
nor unclean force
may ford it.
Step on that line. She said,
lightning ‘cross its path,
it break it, hunger spring up
'neath dry tears, it slakes it.
Dust that stops the unclean
mouth, it clears it
fever at the bone, it heals it
mercy at the cross, reveals it.
It revels in the journey
that finds us here.
Step on that line
She say
Take it into the throat,
the hand, the heart
Step on it
Defy it to be anything
other than what it is.
Erica Vital-Lazare will be one of four poets — the others are Dawn-Michelle Baude, Jamison Crabtree and Joseph Langdon — who read their work during "Poetry in the Dark" at The Writer's Block, 8p, August 27. The poets will read in complete darkness. Reserve your seat at thewritersblock.org.
