Black Family Poems

Growing Up

We never had Disney junk, 
We never had phones, attached to our hands.
We never thought much of bullies, 
as there was often if not...

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As he comes in from the hustle and bustle of the worlds ups and downs
Desiring to be greeted with a smile not a frown

He could...

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Dark Times

Times we celebrate, to be who we are not. 
Bleak times, diseased remembrances. 
Why?
You know.
You know because deep inside…

You have hid under a blanket...

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Shared love genuine
great to have that feeling
Family cares for the most
loving each other close
a bond that is so real
that no one can steal
no fighting and...

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It's the strange well oiled machinery of a family picnic that seems so arcane to me,

The regal viscosity of a guacamole concoction, the cleverness of...

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Working two jobs and sometimes three
survival mode kicked in
going to school, taking care of the home
making a difference in the world
enjoying these times 
the reward...

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Minehead, or Skegness,
she never could quite remember which.
A black and white, Box Brownie picture.
A stranger smirking, she is beautiful.

They sit on a low sea wall....

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Seeing my Daddy in black and white moves my emotional colors
into a vibrant rainbow that was Daddy made decades ago.
Only twenty-seven in the photo, Dad's...

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"There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of humans, are...

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I had a birthday recently and my sister sent me 
an old black-and-white photograph 
the photograph was taken in the sixties of
   ...

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Chapter 1;
THE LIGHT THAT COULD NOT BE EXTINGUESHED

They say that demons can be generational, that they can attach themselves to a family for decades with...

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Looking at the photographs 
My tender heart turns to glass
Pictures, windows to the past 
Of all the ways we used to be

Smiling by the lake...

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Hence it begins!
Admixture of utmost sins,
A flower purple and thin,
Iris that is as blue as it's ever been.
Do not decipher nor should you commentate
What is...

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The two black and white mini-twins seemed surprised beyond surprised.
Their mouths were open like codfish in the middle of a yell.
These babies were stacked on...

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Shadowed memories
intermingle with
childhood dreams of 
days long past.

Looking back on
the canon of Time
my dance with youth 
filled my heart with 
happiness 
enveloped by the love
of...

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The travelling circus arrived in town
I bought some tickets for my family
We got there early for the matinee
At the entrance was a scary sad clown.
...

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Brave Woman

Wounded and outnumbered by U.S. soldiers,
The Northern Cheyenne Warrior ‘Chief Comes in Sight,’
Fights to stay alive in the Rosebud Creek valley;
When his sister spots...

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Dirt road lined with walls of stone,
run right up to the small home,
rust red siding coming in view,
in my head it’s still cedar, blue.

Sugar maples...

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How Absurd it Seemed


Ah, those memories, so well refined, reworked, revised to meet the failings of memory – or the shame of remembrance.  Tinged...

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Should I look into family history
And find my ancestors’ story
Will I be surprised by what they have done
Or be happy for what they had won
Perhaps...

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