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Ahlberg, Allan | Ahvenjärvi, Juhani | Angelou, Maya | Bakhtiar, Shireen | Beatty, Paul | Boland, Eavan | Brooks, Gwendolyn | Brown, Sterling | Bryant, Dana | Chapman, Tracy | Clifton Read, Lucile | Coleman, Anita Scott | Coleman, Wanda | Cullun, Countee | Dashiell, J.M. | Dove, Rita | Dylan, Bob | Evans, Mari | Gaines, Reg E. | Giovanni, Nikki | Goldbarth, Albert | Harper, Michael | Hayden, Chris | Hayden, Robert | Jordan, June | Lorde, Audre | Madhubuti, Haki R. | Mc Kenty, Bob | Moore, Richard | Reed, Ishmael | Salt'n'Pepa | Sayar, Keyvan | Scott-Heron, Gill | Shakur, Tupac | Sinervo, Helena | Stevens, Cat | Teasdale, Sarah | The Sugarhill Gang | Walcott, Derek | Walker, Alice | Walker, Margaret | Williams, Saul | Wyclef Jean | Young, Al
Bryant, Dana
Heat
Extreme heat
was never a discomfort
rather it brought back memories of times she spent in the South
watching the
older grey haired woman in a multicolored floral dress
fanning herself
discreetly
in the waiting room at Penn Station
reminded her
she wuz uplled into the gesture
the way one may sometimes be drawn in a yawn
she was
brought back
to that time night twnety years past
the Pee Dee Baptist Church in Cheraw, South Carolina
where elderly women could be heard to sing
a righteous gospel
very well
whilst fanning themselves continually
between the hallelujahs n the amens
their round brown arms and bellies were swathed in too tight dresses
pomaded tightly curled hair peeking out from under rakishly positioned straw hats
and she remembered the fans
prefabricated numbers distributed by the Mamie Parson's Home of Everlasting Peace
complete
with a photograph of Bo Paunch McCall's youngest daughter Amelia
plastered
to the flip side
her honey brown face was directed heavenward
a surprisingly knowing smile on her pious lips
smooth caramel hands clasped in supplication and obedience
I want to give you devotion
and she remembered sitting next to Mrs. Thunderbird in the third pew
how enormous she appeared to a girl of three
buttressed up by an ample bottom
supported by slender calves
she seemed regally enthroned
pellets of sweat formed on the bridge of her nose
and above her upper lip they coalesced in tiny rivulets which trickled down her chin
through plateaus and creases permanently etched in her neck
to disappear in the secret place between her breasts
thank you Jesus
though sweat pooled in the ample armpits of Jett Thunderbird
and soaked her dress into the crack of her ass
she never acknowledged any discomfort
but rocked back and forth
in
it
Hallelujah
Amen
Yes
twenty years later
when other folks curse and sweat at the heat and look to her for agreement
she can only stare on with complete incomprehension
she can tolerate extreme heat
welcome it even
surrender herself to it coyly
and only seem to sweat
where her breasts
try
to meet
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