Each morning my grandma rises to find her Bible
still breathing, belting her favorite aria. A lion,
a well, a sacrifice. Crack-of-dawn, coffee-stained,
scrolls making music at 6am. Each page turns a chord
she knows better than hot water cornbread and collard
greens. Wailing Blessed Assurance, What a Friend to crackling
bacon– belly-full of gospel summoning spirit to be there
in the midst. Her back buckle and hand wave awakening
a holy ghost- Bash-sha- Shadrach, Meshach- tongue-speaking
spells cast out the demons haunting this old house. “While
I’m on this tedious journey”— a sovereign song soothing
her aching hands. Walk with Me, she asks, inviting
Him in the room. What a meditation, a ritual
to welcome Holy into a place held together by broken bread.
A sacred invitation to dine with her and the browning
hash. Nothing but the Blood and sunrise slicing sound—
stirring a tent revival lasting ‘til nightfall across
her wobbling kitchen table.
Belly-Full of Gospel
About the Author
Khalisa Rae is a poet, educator, and journalist in Durham, NC, and author of Real Girls Have Real Problems chapbook. Her poetry can be seen in Crab Fat, Rust and Moth, Frontier Poetry, Flypaper Lit, Damaged Goods, Hellebore, Terse, Sundog Lit, PANK Tishman Review, Occulum, and The Obsidian, among others. Khalisa is the winner of the Bright Wings Poetry contest, the Furious Flower Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize, and the White Stag Publishing Contest, among others. Currently, she serves as Managing Equity Editor at Carve Magazine and is the Writing Center Director at Shaw University. Her debut collection, Ghost in a Black Girls Throat, is available from Red Hen Press in April 2021 and Unlearning Eden from White Stag Publishing Winter '21.
April 2021
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