What The Earth Knows
by Porscha Simmons
I walk alone
Because the Earth knows my name
The dirt wears a love song of my footfalls.
The wind sways to dance with me
The trees shade my every endeavor
Show up strong and lush like me
Bark and roots dark as me.
This whole world made in the image of me.
But how can I explain what only the naked eye can see
What no phone, tablet or image making machine can conceive…
That I am quite safe, beautiful and happy
That these high walls were built to protect me
That I am worthy and worth protecting.
That I am valuable
As any gold Colton or mineral simply by existing
That the very fire learned to sway her hips from the same foremother
Who taught me.
I walk alone
In peace, power, and sovereignty
I require no connection to earn being special
No father, brother, uncle -
Although I have them and they are legion.
I walk alone because the Earth knows my name
Primordial and unpronounceable
containing every syllable and silence
every moonray and moment
where Ocean fell back in lock step with sand.
I walk alone as a graduate course in mathematics
How even within and among myself
I am a lesson in balance,
like every Earth colored woman ever born or yet to become.
Because I am the earth and I will never forget
My Name.