LANGSTON HUGHES TRIBUTE ISSUE Holly Bass   INDIGO I am indigo the color of soul a black slave dying white cotton dark blue a sea island full of slave women bearing new slaves unaware of emancipation’s passing hands stained with so much indigo blood seeps black first pine tar deep before I can see it is as red as everybody else’s indigo stains the teeth when you sink them, ivory, into the poisoned plum of me the shroud of my sadness is such that even black spirituals sung in backwater churches cannot rescue me from my desolation I’m so blue the black sea borrows its hue from me so blue sapphires merely emulate my absence there are no words for this in my poor slave’s English I am an open wound in an inconspicuous place a comfortable agreement with death I am a slave dance after a long day of work I am the broken neck of a dreamer the opposite of an orgasm gatemouth brown cannot utter my essence taj mahal cannot wail my presence robert johnson came close— touched his fingers to the surface of my shimmering waters, then played ghost said he’d rather deal with the spirit world than exist forever in my netherworld— I couldn’t blame him this blue is the birthplace of blackness there is no deeper beginning i live in sadness i live in sadness i live in sadness i live in sadness       Holly Bass is a writer, performer and director. A Cave Canem fellow, her poems have appeared in Callaloo, nocturnes (re)view, Role Call and The Ringing Ear. Her performances been workshopped and presented at the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage and the Experience Music Project. She has received numerous grants from the DC Arts Commission as well as a Future Aesthetics grant from the Ford Foundation/Hip Hop Theater Festival. She is the Countee Cullen Poet-in-Residence for Busboys & Poets in Washington, DC where she coordinates open mic nights and writing workshops for the public.   Published in Volume 12, Number 1, Winter 2011.   To read more by this author: Holly Bass Holly Bass: Audio Issue Holly Bass: It's Your Mug Anniversary Issue (introduction), Vol. 10:3, Summer 2009 Holly Bass: It's Your Mug Anniversary Issue (poems)