EVERYBODY SPEAKS

Dada said God called on the Friday 

night before I was born; four lbs

a bloody, angry and premature thing 

not strong enough to survive on my own.

The doctor said, I am months too small 

to breastfeed. My birthmother is now spared 

the grief of losing a child that she had 

been planned to give up cuz spare change 

real hard to count when you’re just a kid 

who already got two hungry little babies 

and no education. The social worker hatin’, 

said, White folk always tryna be saviors.

She’s predicting how the “real” black kids 

will never accept me. I am only a newborn 

hooked up to tangled tubes and machines, 

but mom said she could see heaven 

in me. Said, She looks more like an, Angelica

than a Madeline cuz Madeline

sounds like a white girl name, and Dada agreed. 

My birthmother agreed. The NICU nurses speak