ATOPON
BOOKS

An Open Mouth

W. Yusef Doucet

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Poetry

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When did he steal your soul, zombie?

What wicked sorcerer drained you?

Poured your soul out, a libation

And offering, slow, sweet and black

For the dead who eat the dead and

Never grow full, some dark rum for

The bloodless devils that live in

The emptiness left within you?

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Zombie, look at you. Can you see

Your reflection in a pool of rain

Water or a mirror when your

Stolen soul is not your own soul?

Does a dead man watch from the glass?

Can he see you fade into ash?

What rider drives your head, zombie

And makes you think you alone drive?

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An open mouth...open to bear witness, to show what lives inside, to share what must come forward: the poems in this collection add one more voice to the human chorus that sings as proof of life – funky, messy, soulful, struggling, exhilarating life.

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Paperback: $10.00

Hardcover: $22.00