Poem: the earth is a living thing

the earth is a liv­ing thing
–Lucille Clifton
From Col­lect­ed Poems of Lucille Clifton

is a black sham­bling bear
ruf­fling its wild back and tossing
moun­tains into the sea

is a black hawk circling
the bury­ing ground cir­cling the bones
picked clean and discarded

is a fish black blind in the bel­ly of water
is a dia­mond blind in the black bel­ly of coal

is a black and liv­ing thing
is a favorite child
of the universe
feel her rolling her hand
in its kinky hair
feel her brush­ing it clean