Poems

Dear Father

I miss being a child

Not for a reason, you may assume

As I get older

I find myself being consumed

By nostalgia of my father in his prime

Nothing like this man when he shines

He was always there and knocking the time

I miss my childhood days because he made it happen

When times were hard and fastened

He became braver

He became a bearer

He became a caregiver

Always a foot soldier

He played the role of a father

He played as a deliberator

He played as a fierce dictator

I miss the paths he took

In defiance of the scorn with being the Stygian man

He played his part while not having the most.

Dedicated to my father, Ivan Solomon.

– Makonnen Solomon

Child abuse

The hand that touched me wrecked me

The blood on the tail of my skirt

The tears hug tight my dull pale skin

The pain in my waist lingers still

Oh, I cannot breathe

I lay as a lamb to the slaughter

I lay before my predator, I am your kin

Empty, lost, broken, shattered and stolen

I lay as a motherless child, forsaken

My innocence flew away on the wings of a crow

My virtue soon forgotten, this I know

For hours I laid there, broken and torn

I cried tears of blood, they fell on my cheek

How can I live again? I’m so weak

Who to tell? Who would help?

Knowing that my own violated me

I cannot breathe, I cannot breathe

I heard the singing of the birds

The barking of the dogs

The beating of my heart

As my soul slowly dies in the dark

The agony, oh! The agony, the brutality

And the pain I bore on Johnson river shore

For this … there is no cure.

– Patree Haynes

Peek a boo!

Peek a boo!

My baby boo

Show us your grin

And your baby tooth

When Mom and Dad

Play this game with you

It simply means

That we love you

Peek a smile

All the while

Cause there’s nothing warmer

Than a baby’s smile

You eat, mess up, creep and cry

And you’ll do this all your baby life

But before you lay down

Your sleepy head

The peek a boo parents

Come out again

So peek a boo!

Baby, we see you

Show us your grin

And your baby tooth

We your Mom and Dad

Sing you a lullaby

And watch you curl up

Sleeping so soundly by.

– Lisa Gaye Taylor