Knowledge of the Brown Body
by Teri Ellen Cross Davis
After "Harriet Tubman is a Lesbian" by Saida Agostini
If Harriet Tubman had been a lesbian
I would know the brown body had been
valued outside of chattel, to the point of risk.
I would know an ebony nipple spoke its hushed
volumes from inside another sweet brown mouth,
eager to know its secrets. I would know a brown
belly had been showered with a free tongue's pulsing
intention. I would know the brown hips of a woman
were stolen back for freedom's sake. I would know
that brown thigh's thunder was enough to make a woman walk
into the abyss of the deep South and come out clapping,
on fire with black love. I would know that this body I own
had once been coveted for its sake and its sake alone.
How sacred I could hold that knowledge, I could palm it,
my fingers deep inside the agent that helped break
the back of the Confederacy.
