Tiana Clark
Bear Witness
after Carrie Mae Weems Roaming Series
Before I knew
how to fill my onyx body
with slick measures,
dip every curve
in my skin with dark sway,
I needed a picture.
Before me stood
a long black dress I called Woman―
you stand opaque
with your back to me,
a statue of witness,
the door of Yes―
I can Return
to the monument
of your silhouette
to find my longest muscle.
We both stare down
the ocean to stillness.
O, Carrie―
what are you trying
to tell me here?
I’ve been standing by water
my whole damn life
trying to get saved.
Tiana Clark is the author of the forthcoming chapbook Equilibrium, selected by Afaa Michael Weaver for the 2016 Frost Place Chapbook Competition sponsored by Bull City Press. She is the winner of the 2016 Academy of American Poets Prize and the 2015 Rattle Poetry Prize. She is currently an MFA candidate at Vanderbilt University where she serves as the Poetry Editor for Nashville Review. Her writing has appeared in or is forthcoming from Rattle, Best New Poets 2015, Crab Orchard Review, Southern Indiana Review, The Adroit Journal, Muzzle Magazine, The Offing, and elsewhere.
Find her online at www.tianaclark.com.
Return to May 2016 Edition
after Carrie Mae Weems Roaming Series
Before I knew
how to fill my onyx body
with slick measures,
dip every curve
in my skin with dark sway,
I needed a picture.
Before me stood
a long black dress I called Woman―
you stand opaque
with your back to me,
a statue of witness,
the door of Yes―
I can Return
to the monument
of your silhouette
to find my longest muscle.
We both stare down
the ocean to stillness.
O, Carrie―
what are you trying
to tell me here?
I’ve been standing by water
my whole damn life
trying to get saved.
Tiana Clark is the author of the forthcoming chapbook Equilibrium, selected by Afaa Michael Weaver for the 2016 Frost Place Chapbook Competition sponsored by Bull City Press. She is the winner of the 2016 Academy of American Poets Prize and the 2015 Rattle Poetry Prize. She is currently an MFA candidate at Vanderbilt University where she serves as the Poetry Editor for Nashville Review. Her writing has appeared in or is forthcoming from Rattle, Best New Poets 2015, Crab Orchard Review, Southern Indiana Review, The Adroit Journal, Muzzle Magazine, The Offing, and elsewhere.
Find her online at www.tianaclark.com.
Return to May 2016 Edition
