Water and Earth
by Patricia A. Johnson (‘00 - ‘02)

I wanted my husband
Smelling like a black man
So, I changed his diet
Fed him cornbread, greens and yams
Slipped in palm oil and cayenne, when I could.
Washed his clothes in Oxydol,
Bathed him in Ivory soap,
Rubbed him in cocoa and shea butters,
Shampooed his hair in coconut,
Laid it back with Royal Crown,
That man smelled so good, I called him Negro.
Three days I wallowed in his aromatic trough

Before his body revolted,
Purged itself…
Cayenne blazed a trail
Through his lower tract,
Whelps snaked on his scalp,
Red splotches mushroomed on his skin,
Pimples and blackheads rioted on his face,
I had to stop.
I had married water,
There was no way
To lay earth on it.

From Stain My Days Blue (Ausdoh Press 1999) Copyright © Patricia A. Johnson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of the author

Patricia A. Johnson, author of Spirit Rising and Stain My Days Blue, and winner of the 1999 Sonia Sanchez award, is from Elk Creek, Virginia. Executive Director of SPARKS Writers’ Workshop and member of the Carolina Writers’ Collective, her poems have been published in numerous journals including, Aura, BMa: The Sonia Sanchez Review, Borderlands, Dialogue, Mount Voices, Obsidian II, Out of the Rough, Lonzie’s Fried Chicken Review and Slam Anthology. A National Poetry Slam Champion, Patricia travels the country, presenting poetry, breathing life into words.

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