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.

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

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

I said to Poetry:"I’m finished with you." Having to almost die before some wierd light comes creeping through

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

As if I’ve swallowed A watermelon And Sidestepping My digestive tract

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…

How can Humanity look the deer in the face? How can I,

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

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

Knowing you might some day come and how unprepared I’ve always been like Mr. Sloppy in Charles Dickens’

Expect nothing. Live frugally On surprise. become a stranger To need of pity Or, if compassion be freely

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

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

To change the world enough you must cease to be afraid of the poor. We experience your fear as the lea… humiliations; in the past

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