You're in this dream of cotton plants.
You raise a hoe, swing, and the first weeds
Fall with a sigh. You take another step,
Chop, and the sigh comes again,
Until you yourself are breathing that way
With each step, a sigh that will follow you into town.
That's hours later. The sun is a red blister
Coming up in your palm. Your back is strong,
Young, not yet the broken chair
......
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you--
Then, it will be true.
I wonder if it's that simple?
I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
......
Mary Davis dwelled on a fruit farm, adoring the company of animals.
Most beloved was sociable Sam, who made her giggle, like bubbles!
Whereas Mary was seven-years-old, Sam, her lamb, was still a baby,
Given to Mary by best neighbors, when they played in orange daisies.
Sam's white fleece was soft and fluffy, like a mound of feather pillows;
Like clouds of endless, turquoise skies, blown by breezes, into billows.
Sweet-natured Sam and Mary's bond, was special. Soon inseperable!
......
I come from a musical place
Where they shoot me for my song
And my brother has been tortured
By my brother in my land.
I come from a beautiful place
Where they hate my shade of skin
They don't like the way I pray
And they ban free poetry.
......
I was hoping to be happy by seventeen.
School was a sharp check mark in the roll book,
An obnoxious tuba playing at noon because our team
Was going to win at night. The teachers were
Too close to dying to understand. The hallways
Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair. Thus,
A friend and I sat watching the water on Saturday,
Neither of us talking much, just warming ourselves
By hurling large rocks at the dusty ground
And feeling awful because San Francisco was a postcard
......
Mary Davis dwelled on a fruit farm, adoring the company of animals.
Most beloved was sociable Sam, who made her giggle, like bubbles!
Whereas Mary was seven-years-old, Sam, her lamb, was still a baby,
Given to Mary by best neighbors, when they played in orange daisies.
Sam's white fleece was soft and fluffy, like a mound of feather pillows;
Like clouds of endless, turquoise skies, blown by breezes, into billows.
Sweet-natured Sam and Mary's bond, was special. Soon inseperable!
......
O memories of long ago
I never thought I'd miss you
I still remember those times
Never thought they'd be the best of times
Oh, how I long for those days
Hard as they were, painful even
They are the loveliest, nonetheless
Younger me would've been perplexed
If she knew I want those days back!
But perhaps that's how life is
......
Sandra Hall was a college student, like experience gained from learning,
Living in the house of her parents; with love like red, fall leaves returning.
Sandra was in her final year of school, and she had a network of friends,
Like the grape, starry nights of luxury, that pink, velvet moon portends.
Other family didn't live very far, in warm days of color and forget me nots,
Often playing with their frisky feline, against summer's mosaic backdrop.
She and her fellow classmates had thesises, on many different life topics.
......
hope yet to come
Blocks of pavement down the street,
lead me to that place so bleak;
One foot in front of the other,
This day is the same, just another.
Walk to school in silence,
Clouds gather round and twirl like daisies
I dont need their guidance
Rests on the pavement down the street,
......
My brother, John, was older than me; and I had ever looked up to him,
As a golden sun seems always with you, but comes and goes at whim.
My brother, John, taught me to roller skate, and how to fly a green kite.
We rode bikes and red wagons, in mauve, swift days of summer delight.
My brother, John, was very smart. Nonetheless, he was frequently tardy,
Like faint stars, yet visible come dawn, having twinkling, confetti parties!
We had fast friends in the neighborhood, of fluttering ruby leaves, fallen,
......