Dior J. Stephens is a pure pisces and even prouder poet. He is the author of SCREAMS & lavender, 001, and CANNON!, all with Ghost City Press. He tweets at @dolphinneptune and Instagrams at @dolphinphotos.
2 poems
by Dior J. Stephens
UYP 3
asking all masks of capital and colonial be removed
before we come to the lord my lord our lord none of it
matters inshallah say 52 hail mary’s for your ancestors lost
in uncharted, unfriendly waters, throw your back out in prayer
for they see you as your blood inshallah sing hymnals at the feet of mules, tell them change is the latest alternative milk trend—s o a k t h a t s h i t r i g h t u p inshallah praise be and benedict your altered gaze, reconstructed eyes & fickle tongue inshallah honor your blessings for a fortnight and wash your hair in red clay inshallah try to wash all the masks off of you now inshallah still your whitest parts into a bowl — fingernails, teeth, eye-whites; combine with chicken wishbone, broken, a hefty serving of onyx fragments & one marvin gaye record, also broken inshallah ask that whiteness to reevaluate & see thy onyx, thou heartiest and solemnest of stones inshallah ask, why be anything less? sing to mama lucy unearthed — say inshallah grandmother; i long for your essence of black purity in all that i am,,,
UYP 4
feather michael sat down on my
shoulder as 826 fireworks
popped for floyd five weeks in a
row — michael sat on shoulder as
trumpets trumpeted up the sonic
river — crying & bellowing — i
who am nothing — nothing, who
am i — show me the way to the
proper p’s — prosperity — peace
— plenty — michael floats ‘round
cranium in — blue blue light —
says — i must learn to follow
before i can lead — & there in the
5252 cerulean — i flew to the
apex mountain of one race
consciousness — uncertain in my
feathers — wings clipped long
ago — still slaying one then two
— floating upstream in western
paradise