to all the hands who found me
                    in the knots

                                        of my own back
to all the hands who found me
                    coiled inside the poison
                                        of other people’s tongues
to all the hands who found me
                                                                  crying in the dark

                                                                  crying on the bus

                                                                  crying in my room

                                                                  crying on the phone

                                                                  crying when I saw

                   my tupuna

                   my firstborn’s brown face

to all the hands who found me

fed me

carried me

bathed and

dressed me

to all the hands who found me

when

my veins

were

streets

and my

flesh

was home

                                                                                                    to

                                                                                                    someone

                                                                                                    else
to all the hands who found me

when

I thought the

earth

would

swallow

me whole
but it didn’t

because of you
if

I ever

                                                                                                    fall

                                                                                                    in love

                                                                                                    with

                                                                                                    never

wash my birth scars in salt

remind me from whose womb I descend
                             wake me to the echoes of her words
“you are eternally re-birthed

through each daughter our songs breathe life into

                                                                                                    The Dead

                                                                                                    and the

                                                                                                    Unborn

                                                                                                    walk

                                                                                                    beside

                                                                                                    you.

always know, our daughter…
                                                                                                    a blood line of never

                                                                                                    has

                                                                                                    never

                                                                                                    existed

                                                                                                    in

                                                                                                    you.”