new
October 8, 2021
What happened to the man who beat Fannie Lou Hamer
while she was in jail
for trying to vote?
Was he offered money for the vicious assault?
Was he let go, to return to his home?
Did they compare stories of being black in America?
Did he hate her for working for their human rights?
Did the guards enjoy the horror of his crime?
Did they lie to him about who she was?
Did he feel remorse?
Did he beg forgiveness?
Did he say it didn’t matter, that she was no good?
And later, when she passed, at age 59,
Did he feel her saintly soul
looking down on him from heaven?
10-08-2021
September 13, 2021
Two hours into sleep
Nerves in my legs tense and twitch
Like a raging fire.
Leg lifts at midnight
Try to get these twitching legs
As tired as I am.
On Sunday night
There are no trucks on the highway
The night is still,
I listen toMy husband’s breathing
As he sleeps and dreams,
No chirping crickets
No singing birds
Or squirrels screeching,
My jumping legs
Tell me I am alive
— the silver lining,
I wonder where
All the cicadas have gone,
They weren’t as loud this year
Or here as long,
There is no rain,
No tree frog songs,
No sirens wailing,
There is only me
On a silent night
As the moon climbs high in the sky.
50 year reunion
July 2, 2021I’m going to my 50-year high school reunion
traveling across 5 states,
I don’t like crowds or small talk,
my ADHD hears every conversation
like it was my own.
But I am going, for all those souls
who are with us only in spirit,
I’m going for all those too sick to go
and for those who can’t afford it,
I am going for them, to stand in the picture
and be counted
while I still can.
I am going for my husband,
because we met there,
and now we’re here, and still in love.
I’m going because high school
was not a blast,
a difficult memory,
but we all grow,
and we all change,
and I’m glad for those of us
still here.
cfblack, 7-2-2021
Fireflies
June 30, 2021On a hot, summer night in mid-July,
sun sinks below horizon of a pink and orange-lit sky,
and I run, catching fireflies.
Bright yellow dots blink and blink
against the darkening,
I like to see how many fit in my hand
without squishing them,
Street lights tell me,”Go home! Go home!”
I run to catch some more, and then,
just before my mother calls, I open the lid to my jar,
As they come out, I say “Good-bye!”
to each and every one.
cfblack 6-26-2021
family history James Agmew
June 30, 2021Family history fact for the day.
In 1870, the man named James Agnew who was my GGGrandpa lived in Montgomery, Ohio (still a part of Hamilton County as is Cincinnati), owned 85 acres of farmed land and 22 acres of woodland. The land was worth $6000, he paid out $100 in wages that year, owned 4 horses, 5 cows, 16 pigs, farmed 50 bushels of winter wheat, 12 of rye, 25 of Indian corn and 130 of oats.
When I am old
April 5, 2021When I am old,
I’ll fear the night,
when monsters rise
from under the bed,
and doubts appear
to haunt your sleep,
and no sun shines to guide you,
when fears come through
the fabric of dreams
appear more real
than what they are,
they whisper storms and tragedy
and darkness folds around you,
But morning comes and fears subside,
Sunrise reds will light the sky,
The owls retreat to parts unknown,
the birds in song remind you,
Another day has dawned.
cfblack 04-05-2021
Palm Sunday
March 28, 2021As a child,
I liked Palm Sunday
more than Easter.
It made more sense to me
than the story later.
The people waving palms
to greet His entrance,
Him smiling back at them,
upon a donkey,
all the while knowing
their imminent betrayal
would soon bring His life to an end.
Their inability to match His love,
even as it sustained them,
His calling for their forgiveness
as His spirit rose to heaven,
This is the Essence of Who He was,
This is the Son of God.
His rising from the dead
in human form,
then to lift into the sky…
to where? outer space?
to a heaven world beyond?
His body once again would die
and turn to dust once more,
David Copperfield, Nick Fury,
or David Blaine might do as much,
But to change human hearts?
to turn their hatred into love
where Kingdoms centuries later would bear His Name?
This is the work of the Promised One,
a Messenger from God,
this is One of the Holy Ones,
the Essence of what is Love.
cfblack 03-28-2021
Below zero
February 9, 2021There is a beauty in it,this cold,
this frozen landscape
of snow,
the barren trees reaching up
against a sky of grey,
the sunlight glistening
like frosting on a cake,
fingers, cold inside of gloves,
feet that start to ache,
dogs sniffing anything
they come across that day,
The coldness of a night sky
with a million stars,
the Big Dipper sparkling
above us, where we are.
cfblack, 2-8-2021
snow haiku
February 7, 2021Snow six inches deep,
Never melts but turns to ice,
The dogs walk on top.
cfblack 2-7-2021
