My poem “The Gift of Two Hundred Acres: A Cherokee Legacy“, will be published on Monday by Moonstone Press for Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Monday, the 13th.
The poem is loosely based on my family history.
See an excerpt of the poem below:
“From the shadows of enslavement to the light of freedom, my great-great-great-grandfather’s journey reminds us that every story holds the power to reshape the future.”
My third great-grandfather
A stage whisper in our family tree
Both Black and Irish
A rarely seen blend
A portrait painted in white
An enslaved person held in old Tennessee
A harsh world
The sun scorching his porcelain skin
And chains biting into his pale flesh.
Then, in 1865, a fragile hope blossomed
The year the word “freedom”
Touched his lips and resonated in his ears
It was like a delicate bird taking flight
Marking the start of a new life
Free from the burdens of the past.
Then he found her
Was it fate?
A woman with a Cherokee heart
Woven from the earth
She gave him a smile on that sunny day
Her eyes and face imparting wisdom
Rooted deep in ancient culture
They married and built a new family tree.
