American Sonnet (35)
by Wanda Coleman
boooooooo. spooky ripplings of icy waves. this
umpteenth time she returns–this invisible woman
long on haunting short on ectoplasm
“you’re a good man, sistuh,” a lover sighed solongago.
“keep your oil slick and your motor running.”
wretched stained mirrors within mirrors of
fractured webbings like nests of manic spiders
reflect her ruined mien (rue wiggles remorse
squiggles woe jiggles bestride her). oozy Manes spill
out yonder spooling in night’s lofty hour exudes
her gloom and spew in rankling odor of heady dour
as she strives to retrieve flesh to cloak her bones
again to thrive to keep her poisoned id alive
usta be young usta be gifted–still black
Wanda Coleman (birth name, Wanda Evans; November 13, 1946 — November 22, 2013) was an American poet. She was known as “the L.A. Blueswoman,” and “the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles.”
Coleman was born Wanda Evans, and grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles during the 1960s. She received fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, The NEA, and the California Arts Council (in fiction and in poetry). She was the first C.O.L.A. literary fellow (Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, 2003). Her numerous honors included an Emmy in Daytime Drama writing, The 1999 Lenore Marshall Prize (for “Bathwater Wine”), and a nomination for the 2001 National Book Awards (for “Mercurochrome”). She was a finalist for California poet laureate (2005).
“Like Wallace Stegner, I am in the ‘universal’ tradition of writers who concern themselves with The Truth—never mind that it is apt to hurt someone, in some way, most likely me.”
—From The Riot Inside Me, Wanda Coleman
Original Audio: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15532