Sample Poems by Cedric Tillman

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Distraction (Harmony, in red)

Hale, opulent thighs
Half-moon into the hem of a garment
Steeped in red--
Curls lambent in lemon chiffon
The crimson blot contrast of lipstick

An aureole of decolletage
Conspire against level-best eyes.
She worries his mack game,
Bedevils his righteousness,
Bloodrushes a whisky
Of wonder.

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Tea

Now of course,
you take it how you wanna take it
But I like that black pekoe, that's good stuff.
Some like it creamed to a burnt orange brink,
or tinged with a jot o' milk

Had it like that too--it's all to the good.
Steep it five minutes, lil' sugar
Let that thang sit a 'lil sump'n 'fore you sip it
and you got a sweet, murky concoction.

Now once you get accustomed,
it's a pain to cut back--
'Cause without that caffeine,
you might just nod off.
See I like a little kick,

an encouraging prod
like a slowed-up slap hand
'fore it reaches the face.

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The Best I Can Do
(for Keri)

I cannot count how many times
I wanted to kick you
for being full of shih zhu,
the constant peeing in our bedroom,
all the pinholes you nipped into Bojangles' breasts
and the fingertips of beloved children
with those baneful little scythes.

(your moodiness unnerved me -
a doleful look, and it seemed
you divined my ruminations of revenge
even at this distance in sentience)

Still you sidle up to me on the couch
needy for attention, as if your maniacal barking
at everyone approaching the door to leave
has earned you the right-
why the snuggling, as if things are cool,
like we have none of that history,
as if by now I don't know who you are?

It isn't that I wish you ill fortune
(so much as that you are something
I could do without, your lack of humanity
being too common a thing nowadays to long for)

Please know I was joking
when I said the best line
in Ice Cube's "Today Was A Good Day"
was "no barking from the dog."
I know people who love me
love you too. Surely there are future endeavors
I could wish you the best in, given a list.

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The Blood
(after Charleston)

I

We stack bodies at the fence by the road
in the Brady photos
faces grim with the need for the purge
twisted by the stench of lost cause
on their rotting flesh.

Solace our servitude with new miseries
we offer our blood for just that much
We pledge allegiance
to the peonage in the offing
to any flag but here.

II

Martin Viola and Medgar
Chaney Schwerner and Goodman
Ms. Cynt and Ms. Susie and Pastor
Twyanza and Doc and Sharonda
bulk up to take the shots
Reverend Simmons Ms. Ethel and Ms. Myra
pool and grow cool
around a Bible study table
die into the floor
at their bend of the circle
necks wrenched with the piercing
temples open
like the door of the church

They hung L.D. and Ms. Laura
from the bridge in Okemah
dangled them over the river like bait
celebrated the pendulous sway
of their desecrated bodies
in a photograph weighted by now
with timekeeping
We remember you
You are the heritage their heritage begets
We are a census of our stories
We can name names
before Charleston

III

Eulogize the wound in the wind
festoon every moment with self- deception
but not here
tell another lie
say the flag was sacrifice or blood money
acres or mules
anything like a tithe
on the value of breath
rally together for warmth
and flinch at regret in your back yards
but not here
where what we know
inoculates against nostalgia

IV

Forgiveness makes no demand
when it could. To be forgiven,
you must know the grace
of a discount.
You would have to believe
you were in debt.