Ode to Second Mothers

for the women of Amepouh, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire  

you  who mothered me    from loneliness when   

others became dust    when husbands     ran far 

& fathers  even farther    when sisters recoiled  

& gossips     uncoiled               their tongues   

you   who saw me     as more than

a dowry    more than   dirty   blood            

more than     a being    defiled  by  god  

more           than a        death sentence      

you     who led me     to the kitchen      & ate   

from         the same plate      who cradled me   

during   my night sweats    who       shaped 

my disease  into     a word       I could speak      

you  who took       me    to my first screening  

who bathed me      when no one else would

who trailed      a wet cloth            down my

gnarled vertebrae    &  my skin stippled red

you      who mapped my hunger   & slumber

in the small hours   who kept vigil      under

the veiled stars     like the mother    I never had

mothers against             elegies & eulogies   

requiems & exorcisms    dirges  & laments

mothers who devour loss like lions beautiful

& brazen         stalking death         to its lair

mothers     who gave me         my life         back

mothers     who gave me     back     to the family

that hated me              that forgave me

how can I ever     praise you            enough   

for this alchemy   that wrings light   from dark  

how do you render      such tenderness

where         there is                none?