Poem-A-Earth-Day April 22: a favorite child of the universe


the earth is a living thing

is a black shambling bear
ruffling its wild back and tossing
mountains into the sea

is a black hawk circling
the burying ground circling the bones
picked clean and discarded

is a fish black blind in the belly of water
is a diamond blind in the black belly of coal

is a black and living thing
is a favorite child
of the universe
feel her rolling her hand
in its kinky hair
feel her brushing it clean




“the earth is a living thing” can be found in The Book of Light (1993) by Lucille Clifton.

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