The Beast

The Beast
By Robyne Landiss Walker

Darkness collapsing upon her
face
Hundreds of harrowing cries reach
one tone
Mouth still tastes of home

Yet her heart still beat for me

Lying in the belly of the beast
Voyage to a foreign cell
Entry to Hell
Leaving behind Yoruba, Ibo, maybe Swahili
Too heavy to carry
Mental scars singed her mind filled
with faces of loves left behind her
eyes see mounds of blue black flesh
remnants of beads
rats wait to feed

Lying in the belly of the beast
Her heart still beat for me

Each time, lights shine
White skin tore at her
White skin slapped and smeared her
Unspeakable godless acts upon this
woman so far from her dark continent
White skin, then spit her back in
The belly
The belly

Lying in the belly of the beast
Her heart still beat
Still beat for me

180 moons pass
She’s birthed/spit out/falls
face first on red dirt
once sowed by red land
Now land grabbed
and built for “Freedom”
Built on the back of her Oppression

White skin greased her down
White skin surveys her womanhood
White skin place her feet on wood

And her heart still beat
Still beat for me

Iron muzzle on her mouth
Chains at her feet
Lashes wet her back
Yet her heart still beat
Still beat
Still beat for me

This woman who survived

The Belly of the Beast

Lying in

The Belly of the Beast

Soul didn’t die in

The Belly of the Beast

Her Nature defied

The Belly of the Beast

And her heart still beat for me
Her heart still beat for me
Her heart

Still beats
Still beats
Still beats

IN ME!!!!