Best Ancestors Poems

I'll drink tears from my ancestors in silence
From history's cup of their defiance
I'll sit in darkness where my soul is torn
and quench my parched thirst of self reliance

To understand their hell and be reborn
Remembering iron shackles, blood stained, worn
My mind reveals stones from a slaver's...

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PRELUDE
There has always been animosity between Greece and Turkey as far back in history as we wish to go.  Greece was occupied by the Turks during the Middle-Ages for almost 500 years.  My ancestors from my Mother’s side were Greek.
They lived in Smyrna...

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You never write.

You never phone.

And there are strangers

Living in your home.

Where are you Loves?

 You’ve disappeared----

Then come unannounced,

Dressed in memory,

And I, clothed in tears.

Immense Light 

too huge to hold

Where I wait

Each day, blessed time grows old.

Without end

Flame cradles 

All, I see

Add my Loves’

Beginnings and Forever

Be…...

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A BALLAD TO THE ANCESTORS

Like ripened fruits plucked from a flourishing tree,
They were stolen from a lush paradise garden;
A self sustained dwelling having no need of a warden;
A beautiful paradise where all could work and live free;
But the thieves of the sea came, taking them...

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Smile if I could
smile if I would
smile as I should…
I can see 
ancestors smiling
down on you and me…
They’re singing
for us to lean
on them when 
we feel weak
for they are 
with us
like living beings
giving what we seek
in our friend Jesus…
Being truly 
in this together
against the unruly
in...

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Every morning
When I glance into the mirror
I look deep inside
Deeper than my subtly-thinning hair
Deeper than my raven beard
Deeper than my mocha complexion
Laden with marks
Of life's wear and tear 
And high cheek bones
I see multitudes
From across the hemispheres
Different yet united
I listen intently
For each of my ancestors
Have...

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The Past, Our Ancestors Gifted Us As Our Future

There are no words we know, fragrant and green,
Wherewith to show how welcome you have been.

You solaced us with many a song-caress,
O' marvelous was your music's loveliness.

You have called back from the unknown
Lost hours our hearts would...

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ANCESTORS

Lady Liberty

And the Lady cries:
"Bring me your lame, maime,
Your poor, your Refugees."

Came by the Mayflower
And others like her,
The first Settlers came
from near and far;
Men, women, children,
old and young.

Bellowing sails flapping 
in tempestuous winds,
People courageously sailed,
Getting wet by the rough rolling
waves,
Going to America ahoy!

From these ones...

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I will love you
Regardless if you hate me because I'm not white

I will love you
Even if your nickname for me is Spic

I will love you
because I can't remember a time when putting my energy into HATING you has EVER brought me closer to happiness

I will...

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In my dreams I can hear as they whisper
silent echoes reach out from the past
Everywhere that I go they are with me
memories in my soul they have cast 

Many hundreds of years separate us 
but through ages their forces endured 
And although I may not...

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Your wise eyes glistened with cataracts, showing me the hazy Indian sky
The wrinkles on your face, the lines by your eyes, showed me the joys of the hills and caverns of the lands
The raised veins on your hands, bumpy yet smooth, acts like the Ganges,...

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I am dipped in burnt sage
smudged with black skin
Choctaw infused in my DNA
Creole seasoning the roux 
in my bloodline
I slow simmer
for I am daughter of
strong warrior
Too powerful to
give up
cause surrender is
an unfamiliar name
to my lineage
My hair kinks just right
Bones and muscles designed
to balance the
world on...

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lilac lullabies
black and yellow butterflies
cotton candy blue skies
field and house work once idealized
perfect dreams
imperfectly fantasized
tangled with filthy truths and honorable lies
every night they listen and console
uplifting the spirits of one another
chanting we will not let them see our cries
noise silences the chastised
perseverance overcomes the spark...

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I’m having soup for food today 
because I am so poor
I mean that in a financial way
I’m rich in blessings of lord

I can sit and doodle a bit
With muses on my brain
But so engaged in my writing page
Soup gets cold all in vain

Seems I’m wired...

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Softened whispers transcend through the centuries
As they echo at night in my dreams
I can hear as they sigh when they call me
Like the ripples of soft flowing streams

They beseech me to always remember
All the struggles of so long ago
Although aeons have passed since they perished
Gifts...

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