WomanSong

by Linda Boyden

There’s never an easy time to be a woman; 

Harder yet to be a woman of Color. 

You know, one of the standard four-skin 

variety pack–Black, White, Red, Yellow?

 

But what about us MixedBloods? 

What are we? The Grays? Pinks? Ecrus, 

Coppers, Burt Siennas?

 

Color confuses. 

Makes some see outrage; 

Others, pity or an-in-your-face-kind-of-scorn. 

Senseless. Color can’t speak the truth. 

The truth lives under the color. 

 

As each succeeding generation mutes

and blends the tones, 

The blending carries us closer 

To the true state of our souls, 

The final destination of being Colorless. 

 

The power of woman brings us into the world, 

Leads us to the safety, comfort, and pain of our world. 

If we are lucky, in the end, the power of woman will sing us through our deaths, 

Carry us home, 

Where there are no tints and shades, 

Where there is only sanctuary, and the solace of the open arms of the Grandmothers. 

Women, when there is nothing else to give your child, 

Give her a song, a strong woman song. 

Sing us, Mothers, sing us home. 

Copyright © Linda Boyden. All rights reserved. 

 

Linda Boyden writes children’s books and poetry. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers. She is the author of The Blue Roses (Lee and Low Books), Powwow's Coming (University of New Mexico Press), and Giveaways: An ABC Book of Loanwords from the Americas (University of New Mexico Press). 

Kim Shuck Poetry

Call this time of year 

Windswept and sight 

Down the phone lines to 

Infinity- they say- 

Which 

Considering our road and direction 

Might be 

Bartlesville a place 

Misheard into another language I know it 

Both the place and the 

Language in a patchwork of 

Supper and 

Relatives 

Filling station and 

Random nouns a 

Blanket that smells of 

Grandma Mae a 

Story about 

Grand Lake the 

Word for a specific turtle the 

Feel of sandals in 

Creek mud

Copyright © Kim Shuck. All rights reserved.

 

Kim Shuck is the 7th Poet Laureate of San Francisco Emerita. Shuck is solo author of 9 books, co-authored one, edited another ten and has contributed to a vast array of anthologies, journals, curriculum guides, tours, and protests. www.kimshuck.com

César Love Poetry

Photographs not Taken 

Not the selfie before the pyramid 

Not the banquet where we ate and gorged 

The falcons in formation above your chimney 

The crime you witnessed but your testimony ignored 

That lakeside stroll when sunset rays revealed her truest beauty 

Maybe you held your camera but were too in awe 

It never became a photo, now it’s a minor regret. 

Somewhere in the head’s rear lobe 

Snapshot memories keep in Kodachrome 

Some are stored in black-and-white, some in sepia tone 

There they fade like everything else. 

Finally you are cremated 

Your mind’s gallery turns ash 

Then they become something to touch 

Each picture a shingle on the scales 

Of the wings of your moth.

Daytime Moon 

sighted at 3 o’clock at this hour, 

a salt cracker 

by midnight, vanilla ice cream

Request to the Whale 

You beast of myth, you beast of time 

Your journeys though oceans are vaster than the moon flights 

The barnacles of your hide are as bumpy as the decades, as coarse as history 

I am unworthy to ride on your back. Explain to me one simple thing I might understand. 

Share with me one chapter from your voyages. Teach to me one vowel of your language. 

 

© César Love. All rights reserved. 

 

Cesar Love is a Latino poet influenced by the Asian masters. A resident of San Francisco’s Mission District, he is also an editor of the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal. He is the author of Birthright and While Bees Sleep. cesarlovepoetry.yolasite.com