Nyanzi’s tongue is not coated with honey.
Even in her cell, she speaks with a knife.
Her rudeness is radical, she shakes the boards
wherever she walks.
Mountains tremble. Before her,
gulfs yawn open with desire.
Rivers run backwards into her vagina.
Next she will parade in all her nakedness.
Not just her tongue will be talking.
I tell you, granddaughter, prison cannot dam her,
she flows with the true, a prophet’s calculation.
Ideas, like faith, break through the thickest walls.
They float on the air, land like dew
on the grassy ears of children.
Saver and savior speak uncomfortable truths.
If we do not listen, we will not reach glory.
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Jane Yolen has published over 378 books including 10 books of poems, children’s books, novels and nonfiction. She has received six honorary doctorates. She has won two Nebula Awards, three Mythopoeic Awards, two Christopher Medals, and two Storytelling Awards.
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