it’s the new year
21st century & old history is breathing fresh but look:
Bessie came back. And she is lit, lemme tell you. She ain’t Bigger’s Bessie, never was. She got her
own claims to Big. That busted brick over her head, that body-freeze in all-consuming snow after he
threw her body down his shaft? That shove ain’t gonna do much to her this time. She unbound
herself from the book which was about the system that bound its natives, and if you look for her
body prints in alleyway, her shadow there, but this girl ain’t. This time Bessie pats Mary’s money in
her pocket. This time she ain’t giving nothing to Bigger or nobody for nothing. She knows what you
said about her cow-ness, knows the thing Zora said about mules and you can call this girl that---
Mule, Cow, Bitch-
but this bitch got on her own mule and rode off.
This time, when the coroner throws off the sheet and the inquisitors at the trial see her body:
deformed, turned out and taken; this time when Bigger and Max get shook about it, she just rips off
that blanket. No big deal. She revives herself, her skin flushes and shines. She gets up, walks right on
by Bigger and white gleaming eyes. She kisses his cheek, says good luck, man, waves to the crowd
and waltzes away. She goes on to the dress shop, buys a chiffon thing---hey she got her own money
now, it appeared because she wanted it to. She puts on the dress in the store and goes out stepping.
She has a time! She gets that bourbon she likes most, steals some boy’s Cadillac afterward and drives
herself to someplace she wants to go. Who knows where she went. She’s doing good, though.
Somehow she just is. Some people say this new Bessie is chillin’ in a lakehouse in Harbor Country;
she’s happy as fantasy. Some say she’s doing terrific even, trying out some community work,
drinking water, reading lots of books, moisturizing, sleeping OK
you know,
just, finally
living
