You tell me God’s watching. Neighbor, if he has seen me
he’s not said a thing; it makes me wonder who your lord
is looking at. Look at you: your hatred, so easily provoked
by tenderness. Hold your tongue, neighbor. Hold it how

a lover holds a partner’s hand: eager to know more, ready
to listen. Neighbor, hands are the only gods I have known.
Since Momma lifted me tenderly into an imperfect world,
many clasped hands have urged me to leave it. The palms

of my sister: smaller but much stronger than mine, ready
to receive me should the world cast me out. I do not want
forgiveness for my love, nor the reaches I make. Instead,
neighbor, let me plant myself under the wide-reaching sun.

Go on: gander. Shout your loud at the red dirt that grows us.
Ask your god if I deserve the chance to grow now that you
know what you know. Watch the rain wash my spirit clean
of things we ought never to have believed. Wait to see me

picked with intention, as carefully as the camellias bloom—
taken home by the sweet hands of a woman who’ll not care
about your uncareful mouth. Look at us; tell us we’ll answer
for our sins; but neighbor, we will only answer to the sky.