Member Poem

I was born into slavery

So literally – me,

Born on a slave ship.

My mother…heaving, crying,

And trying not to give birth to me…

She wanted to gift me freedom, she

Tried to prevent my

Passage, striving not to

Emit me into the world

Of the rolling ship

The cracking whips

People suffering

In the pit

Born into slavery

Only these waves to rock me

Chains too big to hold me

So they bound me to

My mother’s breast and

There I chafed and screamed

And pissed and shat

With all the rest…

And when my mother gave up

And up and died on me

They dragged us up and

Tossed us two

Into the sea…

So finally, we’re free.
 
© Sandra Brown Springer February 2011