Auto-Correcting History
2 Shutter
3 Resurrection under the Moon
4 Diva Suite Black Venus: Josephine Baker
5 Nannarella: Anna Magnani
6 The Mother
7 Lesson Plan
VESSEL
GIRL
Cocoa butter knees dancing
between two brotherly roads,
daydreaming, pretend out loud
Girl.
Singing off-key, flowing T-shirt hair,
microphone brush and missing front teeth.
Jackson 5, Culture Club, Whitney Houston,
Deniece Williams back up the deep-
voiced, juke joint, Midwestern-raised
Girl.
Catfish, crab legs, and chitlins
served on three-generation China.
Great Lakes, mason jars, fried pies,
and Mary Jane–wearing Girl.
Stained glass Sundays, training wheels,
wind, and a wide nose, thick plait, nappy back,
dimple in each cheek Girl.
Heiress of big legs, triple hip,
raised eyebrow, silver dollars,
dusty maps, and a diamond bracelet
Papa gave the day you graduated
eighth grade, and he said young lady
but hugged you like his little
Girl.
The only daughter
of an only daughter left;
the keeper of ash and memory,
curtsies and curiosity,
Easter poems, skinned knees,
polyester, silk, and calamity
Girl
stays close, superstitious,
sassy and studied.
Know better in your gathered years
of woman, grown, change-filled
coffee cans, kitten heels, cat calls,
and collateral, Girl is forever.
Let that Girl settle between new grays,
laugh-out-loud lines, and the sand
of her hourglass filling with fierce
each newborn day.
Girl stays forever.
I
What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open.
MURIEL RUKEYSER
DEFINITION
Parnassus [pα:næs
n
1. a mountain in central Greece, just north of Delphi, that rises to a height of 8,064 feet (2,457 m). Held to be sacred by the ancient Greeks, it was associated with Apollo and the Muses and was regarded as a symbol of poetry. Greek name Parnassós.
2. (Literature / Poetry)
a. the world of poetry
b. a centre of poetic or other creative activity
3. (Literature / Poetry) a collection of verse or belles lettres
Parneshia [par: knee: she a]
n
1. 1980—daughter of high school sweethearts (prom queen and football captain). Father,
a Creole southern rolling stone, watches an old Greek movie, hears the word Parnassus. Father told it to Mother. Mother, first generation Northerner, couldn’t understand what Father was saying (Greek doesn’t roll easy off the Creole tongue). Mother shaped the word herself while baby moved about in her belly.
2. (Woman / Poet)
a. rooted in her Midwest, in her poetry
b. growing up in Mama’s kitchen and stacks of dusty books
3. (Woman / Poet) twenty years later, the Poet searches the definition of her name…who knew
NAIAD
A philosopher asked, If you could have one super power what would it be?
When I was a little girl,
I spoke indigo—
birthed with gills passed
down from sea women.
I spoke indigo in my dreams.
My laughs and grandmother’s
sweet water lullabies conjured waves.
I spoke indigo in my prayers,
praying for family and fins,
hoping my knobby brown knees
would morph
