La Vaca, by Alice Walker

La Vaca

Look

into

her eyes

and know:

She does not think

herself

steak.

* La vaca, "the cow" in Spanish.

When the people have won a victory whether small or large do you ever wonder

His posture From so many years Holding his robe with one hand Is odd. His gait

When you thought me poor, my poverty was shaming. When blackness was unwelcome we found it best that I stay home.

My desire is always the same; wherever Life deposits me: I want to stick my toe & soon my whole body

My brothers knew The things you know. I did not scorn learning them; It’s just my mind

If I was President The first thing I would do is call Mumia Abu—Jamal. No, if I was president

I Sing of Mumia brilliant and strong and of the captivity that few black men escape

If my sorrow were deeper I’d be, along with you, under the ocean’s floor; but today I learn that the oil that pools beneath the ocean floor

Be nobody’s darling; Be an outcast. Take the contradictions Of your life And wrap around

The tree of life has fallen on my small house. I thought it was so much bigger! But it is not. There in the distance I see the m…

Word reaches us that you are sleeping, sleeping. Dismayed we have turned to the sea. We encounter among others

Did you ever understand this? If my spirit was poor, how could… Was I depressed? Understanding editing, I see how a comma, removed or inse…

The old men used to sing And lifted a brother Carefully Out the door I used to think they

Remember When we ended It all —for a weekend— & how

When you see water in a stream you say: oh, this is stream water; When you see water in the river you say: oh, this is water