Poem #???? (2007)

I'm rereading Toni Cade Bambara's The Salt Eaters for like the 12000th time (for my dissy) ... and found a poem I wrote on the 1st page (the first time I read it in 2007).

---

when do words
touch or taste or
passion's fruit the color
of your mother's
eyes
when do they
ask
you
which way is out
up
plant  root   splay    announce themselves
gleaming victors
raise your white flag
say you are    not    defeated     you surrender are    not
averse
to lying prostrate
licking your own wounds
when do they claim you for
those before you
sew you whole    spine   made
straight
...
when is it over   when    do    we

begin