Also by Bell Hooks
The Will to Change
Rock My Soul
Communion: The Female Search for Love
Salvation: Black People and Love
Where We Stand: Class Matters
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center
All About Love: New Visions
Happy to Be Nappy by bell hooks and Chris Raschka
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2007 by Gloria Watkins
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address Atria Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
hooks, bell.
When angels speak of love : poems / by bell hooks.—1st Atria Books hardcover ed.
p. cm.
1. Love poetry. 2. African Americans—Poetry. I. Title.
PS35608.O594W47 2007
811’.54—dc22
2006049882
ISBN-10: 1-4165-3823-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-3823-3
ATRIA BOOKS is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Designed by Jaime Putorti
Visit us on the World Wide Web:
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for angels who go before,
making ready the way—
The angels are so enamored of the language that is spoken in heaven, that they will not distort their lips with the hissing and unmusical dialects of men, but speak their own, whether there may be any who understand it or not.
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
1.
love go to my heart straight
beat beat
alive and more alive
oh time before words
and i can still remember
each touch
all every bit tenderness
only one pain
a cry to make it be
always endless bliss
2.
in love
there are no closed doors
each threshold
an invitation
to cross
take hold
take heart
and enter here
at this point
where truth
was once denied
3.
and how
she adores me
precious precious
sweet sweet
all favorite things
flesh that is my flesh
bone that is my bone
and we always be one
even at the moment
of heartbreak
surrender and separation
we know
times come again
eternal abiding love
another chance
seduced
she promises me
another chance
4.
in him
my twin likeness
all flesh a mirror
pentimento
palimpsest
all traces
seeds pressed
in flower beds
a diary of enchantment
his hands hold mine
keep me standing firm
ground my heart
the angel eye of love
stands guard
protects our union
we are too much one
too much each other
5.
when he bids me
separate
go home
stop following behind
let there be
time without memory
all is loss
my soul gone
into numb nothingness
my body unable
to know or move
from this strange
forbidden garden
he lures me here
where love
will not come again
6.
amid cornfields
cabbage rows
hot peppers
tall tomato vines
succulent ripe hearts wail
all order
neat in nature
living to give sustenance
for wounded spirits
wild asparagus
honeysuckle trails
hanging borders
eden all would abandon
to not be alone
even in paradise
i dream you are
coming love
to resurrect me
to save me from decay
and lead me home
7.
love is
no soldier of fortune
on the prowl
stalking unsuspecting hearts
each evil lurking here
takes any pleasing form
fallen angels
mock nighttime’s splendor
unmasking
each remembered
connecting trace
8.
oh love
a serpent to find
in loss keeps
abandoned angel
innocence
set loose
this side of paradise
binds the heart
with promises
just follow
he will guide
lead home
if only he can touch
sweet sacred flesh
if only he can make
secret never to be
seen wounds
if only she will promise
never to forget
if only she always
feels the pain
9.
inside dark rooms
no one sees wounds
raw open quiet places
where love leaves
no trace of remembered bliss
and no one hears
my heart calling
do not forsake me
one more time
10.
bluegrass waterfalls
lingering taste of starch
naked earth clay
damp dark digging
fishing worms wiggle
clear moonshine
dandelion splendor
an unending heat
small wonders
awaken such lovely soul
let sorrow loose
free the heart
in deep red
this is love’s memory
a poultice held
next to flesh and wound
a balm to soothe
all pain
to press against hurt
11.
the first taste of death
wets my hunger
i need to live each moment
in that same closing of the eyes
that same ecstasy
let me lie here
in everlasting peace
in love’s embrace
let me enter sleep
with dark midnight
as my witness
12.
after slow death
love must clean house
choose memories to keep
and memories to let go
give each lamentation
an ear to hear
a heart to lay rest
let no soul forget
an eternity of de
sire awaits
13.
my flrst love
a backwoods man
comes smelling
of wild things
and too long time
apart from the living
armed with gun and game
he brings his lady tender
rabbit possum and coon
all sweet strong meat
aphrodisiacs to stand
against the end of innocence
14.
my daddy
don’ love me no mo’
he takes his heavy hand
and hurted me
pain me to my heart
to let me know
i can be his brown sugar girl
no mo’
what happen here
what went wrong
how come
i am all same same
but my daddy change change
take his love away
leave my inside soul
cleared out blank empty
and me with no place
to go forget
15.
hold on
take my hand
let go
on the ride
race you down
hill up hill
dust on dirt road
clinging
let me follow you
anyplace
in love
there is no end
we are glory
everywhere
in nature
a paradise surrounds us
wild tenderness
loose and let
our spirits soar
16.
big mama coming
bringing love so sweet
a foreign thing
bonbon pretty
pink yellow
and two shades of blue
come to seduce us silly
with pocketbook and pipe
pressed apron and slicked
back covered hair
take us all as we are
embracing bodies in folds of
dark warm woman flesh
this heaven-sent secret
odor of enchantment
17.
don’t let
your loving
take too long
you may come
too late
and i’ll be gone
don’t let
fear
make you stray
don’t wait
on heartbreak
to show the way
18.
my heart is burning
in this house
where i dreamed
in the dark
my deepest dreams
shrouded desire in shadows
places the dead used to know
upstairs long
little bed low
quilts from hand-me-downs
curtains hung with faded lace
the smell of tobacco
nightshade and morning cool
this scent love’s memory
everything broken and on fire
19.
braided
tobacco leaves
twisted hung
time on the
loosening floor
time stripping
time drying
time turning
sheets of brown
time turning away
and all the time love
the smell of smoke
between us
20.
a palimpsest
of flre
your words
are fingers on my flesh
hands to take
my body
rising heat
touch not
the flame
of this too hot
heavy love
for it will turn
our world to ash
and make the heart
a grave
21.
dark midnight
roaming
seeking a
shoot-and-cut passion
a death
to wound and bind us
the assassin’s testimony
i had to kill
to lay bare
the heart
i had to kill
to let go
hold on
be still
eliminate love’s trace
22.
love ain’t got
no messenger
send death instead
love don’t need
no witness
let the spirit testify
’cause it no matter
life or no life
strange heart or
familiar beat
whoever calling
they don’t know
how to say my name
23.
love in sweet morning
love in the afternoon
late-night love
in between sheets
terrors and nightmare
love dreaming
a second coming
rescue resurrection
love keeping me safe
every day all day
24.
love don’t make no promises
the heart cannot keep
he offers kisses from the divine
nighttime angels
standing by my bed
whispering in my sleep
teaching me dream rhythm flight
all the ways to move
beyond life and death
telling me sweet soul child
only surrender
love will not let you forget
25.
one cannot love
cowboy boots
red plaid vest
white cotton ruffles
and a holster with no gun
one cannot love these
slow killing things
these blue memories
one cannot love
an image
a dead likeness
it will never give back
the real you
or let you see
the inside heart
26.
let me be
a witness to love
stand on the outside
and see tenderness
unbidden
kind words
and a lover’s sweet touch
let me be
a witness to love
see each sacrifice surrendered
how patient and joined
such open heart
let me see and then believe
27.
no kind love
would leave me here
take away treasures
strip me bare
of all the soul
holds dear
forsake all just
and fair due
then flaunt
its heady passion
openly offering
the heart’s allure
only to seduce and
then betray
only i am not slain
though fallen
for love would never
lead me here
28.
angels hear
how she weeps
in the night
tenderly attend her woe
each dark winged
heavenly creature
comes with thread in hand
ready to mend
this broken heart
gathering bits and pieces
every pain shattered fragment
pierced anew
love’s holy grace
render each wound
divine anguish
29.
love
has heard
my cry
and shelters me
not even fear
of death
or the
grave
still my courage
crush this yielding heart
or make all yearning flee
within me
every closed door opens
paradise enters
grant lost souls
solace and sanctuary
30.
oh love
he tells me
i don’t know
can’t understand
never think
don’t know how
only that
there is intense connection
strong binding
abiding warmth
oh love
i come to you who know
the way
oh love
i kneel down
and press my face
against the bosom of memory
where i first yearned
and knew then
how to let my hunger speak
31.
love will not let me speak
will not let me seek words to say
how heavy my heart
the way the weight of your body
closes me down
shuts the door
take off your shirt
hang your tie here
just as you like to be
all loose and free again
let me dress you
in a dark blue suit
when you wear it
i remember desire
full and complete
an intensity so hot
i cannot find air
here in this room
where you
do not come again
to lie next to me
after the
heavy work is done
32.
even though
she knows
a terrorist comes
she can bear witness
can tell you by now
we have been
together
our bodies