Georgette's Revenge

All children cling to life. I'm a little girl, upside down-legs wrapped
I went to his cottage, at 2 A.M. or so, and walked right in the unlocked door. Had I been a little slower, he might have killed me. I knelt at his bedside and demanded, "Kiss me once, and I'll leave." I left after the kiss-satisfying, as I knew it would be.	I wanted him to wake in the morning, won- der if I'd been a dream. A Portrait of Daniel: I think of a river run- ning through you. It flows from your head to your upper thighs and groin. The water rushes by me.	Oh, to bathe there! Soap, a wash basin, prayer-bubbles. Inside you there are rocks, and the water crashes against them. Sometimes your arms and legs are pure fire. Soap, a wash basin,

the power of prayer- bubbles. As a child, I clawed the earth for cacahouètes. Dirt streaked my face,	lodged under my nails for weeks. Only an experienced sailor could navigate the rocky shoreline.	My mother oversaw the workers. After her death, the ground-nuts rotted in pyramids. For my father, I flew to Dakar.
round the thick branch of a baobab. And, oh, baby, who are you, living on berries out under the stars?