Aretha Franklin Sings at President Obama’s 2009 Inauguration
I’m sorry if my words are avascular
I mean I’m sorry if I’m codependent
in a wet pivot world
When I see green parks in people
everyone’s offered a seat on my bench
Some horizons are lies with rainbows
*
the one thing I vow this my body will stop landing this land ultimate into imagine into
illegal dumping I’m not getting saved the Queen
a cover song my fathers in bold. disinfected.
bodies in arrest.at rest.eternal
*
Ownership of land is like a weekend paper
& bullets
one day we’ll sing
land where my mothers died
*
*
*
to a ride a carnival is allegiance. your body.armed & carnal. fingered. hands up. they cry, the babies. in sickness. no one promises to look. wondering where are we? big eye tuna. sealed silver.domestic. glances back at its own body.
Shareen K. Murayama is a Japanese-Okinawan American poet and educator who lives in Honolulu, Hawai`i. She spends her afternoons surfing and her evenings with her dog named Squid. Her art is forthcoming in Juked, Bamboo Ridge, The Margins, and Near Window. You can find her on IG & Twitter @ambusypoeming.
