FEATURED POEMS

BECAUSE SHE DID

FOR THE ONES BEFORE US

She toiled with her hands, in fields, under the hot sun

Praising and worshiping, and picking cotton,

Picking socks, picking shirts, picking dresses,

Cooking dinners, eating scraps, building monuments

Surviving, hands working to the bone,

Tilling the land, keeping it fertile,

While she waited,

Waited to leave the whip,

Waited for her children to leave her, or be taken,

Waiting for the change, fighting things her way.

Her patience was not contagious—

Some ran into the night,

Dark skin and dark sky becoming one,

Others through the underground,

Trusting strangers, trusting God—

And then there was death,

Where freedom could not be tamed,

And cane fields in the Caribbean dripped red.

She didn’t live to see emancipation,

When her people started to rise,

“Up from slavery,” each 10 th full of talent,

AND promise, AND hope,

Climbing to the mountaintop,

Building colleges, inventing traffic signals,

Teaching children,

Wearing Sunday’s best, eating Sunday dinners,

Keeping with traditions from the motherland,

Drum beats still booming in their hearts,

Reciting Langston, embracing renaissance,

Having a dream deferred, yet still dreaming,

Contemplating homecoming with Garvey,

Persevering through the codes, and the marches,

Water hoses, dogs and brilliant speeches given by Kings,

Beatings, lawns with crosses, belting notes in church choirs,

4 little girls, 1 brave bus rider,

And cries for the beloved country, for the world.

Assassinations, imprisonments, and improvements,

Riots to bring peace while picking afros, carrying guns,

Pumping fists in the air, being proud and being scared in the same breath,

Imitating George and Weezie, and movin’ on up.

Electing firsts—

First Governors, first Presidents, and beautiful first families.

The slow and steady rhythm that is change,

Drips and drops of it, not too eager but willing nonetheless,

Not for free, but with sacrifice, with struggle, with tears,

With her legacy, steady in patience, pace and progress,

“Firsts” followed by infinity,

A continuous journey that we embrace,

Each person with a purpose, fighting for a cause,

Taking to the streets of Brooklyn, of Newark, of Darfur,

Of the 9 th ward, of D.C., of the Congo, of Haiti, of the Diaspora,

Praising and worshipping, toiling with our minds,

Keeping the land of ideas fertile, inspired by her

Because we must, BECAUSE SHE DID, Because we can!

AFRAID

FOR THOSE WHO UNDERESTIMATE YOU

Watching you watching me is alarming

My smile less than disarming

My personality (to you) minus charming

Leads to the birth of fear

You wear it on your sleeve

Instead of your heart

Full of cowardice,

Transported mentally

Away from my sprit,

Closer to what you see,

The tricks your eyes play on your mind

See-thinking me to be the villain,

Out to steal your inheritance,

One not even earned,

But a learned jackpot of access,

An upgrade,

A dubious distinction of nothingness that you created,

The house that cards built--weak.

Keep running.

Thinking of you hating me

Debating my existence

Equating my intelligence

Leads to a misunderstanding,

You create hurdles,

I fly instead of jump

You run, but I run faster (of course)

The energy you expend is futile

The race to finish is not started

I was born—the champion

Without a metal, but made of steel

Grinning to you, my inner smirk moves mountains,

Moving you, and what you design,

Your own tomb,

With bricks of underestimation,

Too heavy to carry across that finish line

Keep running.

HEALED ANEW

FOR THE HEALING WOUND

Broken hearts heal themselves with the balm of life

Salve soothes the wounds that loved ones left

No bleeding, no need for a band-aid

The blood has stopped running

The tears have dried up

Almost done oozing

Pain is subsiding

Crust forming

Swelling

Itching

Scab

New.