This poem is, among several things, a celebration of Black creators in whose works we are reminded of our beauty and dignity. Their creations are our mirrors – the reflection is truth.
Black Dignity, 2020
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This Burden/This Strength (for Ahmaud)
This Burden/This Strength (for Ahmaud)
by Tiffany Nicole Fletcher
1.
My sisters and I bear a strange burden:
we anticipate, we push back this ghost of fear,
we take in the story of the latest one and we steel ourselves—
we manage the threat of a silent war.
Even those who don’t believe find themselves offering supplication
to the Most High
to cover their sons and brothers fathers and uncles—
cover my grandfather and husband, they pray.
That they would not be hunted down like dogs and killed,
that they would not end up martyrs because of the fears of small men.
Quarantine Spring 2020
Quarantine Spring 2020
by Tiffany Nicole Fletcher
What is survival
What is eating and drinking
is it having paid work
is it being able to go outside at whim
is it having love?
How do we measure the worth of our days
what is the sound of overcoming
Of all of our efforts, what is it that lasts—
what remains;
which fiber, which thread we’ve woven
cannot be torn?
Love is an element—
burning, cleansing, enveloping, steadying:
a force,
a purifier,
a solid ground.
An opening, a freedom—a hope;
a hope that our days
will have counted for something
in the end.
We are entering the eternal
where communion becomes greater than consumption
and we are made new again.
Spring has emerged and all of Earth is singing that
we are ripe for remaking.
Listen,
the center is forming now.
The Children of Eda
The Children of Eda by Tiffany Nicole Fletcher
There is a calling and its pull is ancient:
to mother
and so be a partner with God;
to be a creator of a tribe,
a vessel.
Centenarian oak tree
under whose branches
many have been sheltered,
we know that our story began in you.
You,
the defier of storms,
she of sass and sharp tongue
who, though made of small frame
would put grown men in their places
if need be.
Eda. Mother. Granny.
Stander of every test of time. Strong one–
rest now.
For the first time in one hundred years
your hands will be completely silent.
Those hands that have carried babies
and grandbabies,
tended flora and coaxed beauty from the soil
hands that nurtured our Tata until his last day
hands that held hymnals, and turned pages in the Holy Book,
your hands fashioned flour and fruit into tarts to nourish us
and wove thread into lace,
cloth into dress.
Your hands made magic;
they fostered life.
And now your story continues to write itself
through us, the children of Eda:
for, we parent and we serve
we make beautiful things and
we sing songs unto the Lord
we live our faith,
we defy the odds
and we survive storms.
We are strong women
and men strong enough to love strong women.
We never give up; we always rise.
Granny, we are a whole field of oak trees now—
standing tall, we are your children,
a tribe full of overcomers.
In memory of Eda Flax, 1918-2019
Revelation Story
Revelation Story
by Tiffany Nicole Fletcher
The boat I’d been traveling on
made me feel secure
until one day I looked at the waves
and the expanse of sea,
the depth of the water
and I knew,
I knew that this
was
not
security.
Yet, I would spend years
in that boat.
One night I heard the One I love
calling me.
He was out on the water saying,
“Come to me”
and he told me,
“Do not fear.”
He called to me because he knew
that my whole life was
waiting for me out on that water,
out in the expanse,
and he knew about my boat – that it was a dead end,
but safe,
seemingly safe.
Love drew me out of the boat.
There is nothing else that could have made me
leave my old world behind
to step into nothingness,
to turn and go where I might sink.
Love made me risk,
it made me change direction,
made me set down my old, useless oars
to be free to
grasp the hands of the One
who was reaching out for me.
Love told me to come-
I followed the call.
And then:
Love made the waves feel like solid ground
Love kept its eyes on me as I took the chance
Love calmed the waters
Love gifted me the courage needed
Love comforted me when I feared
Love stayed with me out in the unknown territory, saying:
“I told you that I love you
and that I would never…”
(these are the words I heard as I walked
across the water to the One who loves me)
“…leave you nor forsake you and
I am here I am here I am here
I am here I am here I am here.
I have all of this love for you,
come and receive it.”
I discovered that I was approaching a heart
as big as that ocean,
that my soul was swimming in it;
I was submerged in sacred love,
and suddenly I knew that
this Love was
the boat
the waves
the sea
me, as the Beloved
and it was the One who had called to me.
The One who had called to me.
The One who is holding everything.