AfriGeneas Poet: Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

The Matriarch

Like finely chiseled leather
forming symmetrical patterns
Soft furls drape her muscle
gristle and marrow-rich slender bones
Still supple like soft ground
Gentle crevices holding ageless secrets

Like tributaries of the Euphrates
vibrant blood-pulsing veins
throb beneath their weathered binding
wending their course
throughout the universal network
Feeding the old and the new

Like the planetary clock
her heart mirrors strong with conviction
sending code words for a dynasty
Seed-cells double quadruple infinity
offspring branch uncountable tendrils
reared and set free

Manifesting the vision of the Matriarch

Minds Linked In Brotherhood

Hats set at attention
White coats pristine
Shoes shining like obsidian

Trousers creased razor-sharp
Men thin as rails
extended their hands in service

Mouths filled with manners
Hearts set on overcome
Minds linked in brotherhood

An overground army
Against the grand difficulty

Along the eastern corridor
traveling to territorial limits
following tracks of pioneers

Moving across the great divide

ŠSKRolle -1998. All Rights Reserved.

Mother Tongue

"Is English your native language?"
a woman at my front door queried me.
And I, Carolina-born female
of Ethiopian, Cherokee, Aborigine, Irish
and other parts unknown descent, &
in my best drawl replied "Yes"
and she said, "Oh, 'cause if it isn't
you sure have a way with words.

Murmurings of an Open Heart

Many years ago
I sat in sadness
pain, dismay
I chose to live

I still remember the noons
and afternoons
I still remember
and I sorrow
missing most
the spirit of saneness

The river home
has become a vastness
not easily broached

A tattered heart
much like a splattered page
must gasp for breath and reach
to match the rhythm
of its soul