Joy A. Burki-Watson
Member-at-large

I wanted release so I sought it, I worked in the South as a slave,
Freedom took plenty of forethought and more than a fair share of brave.
I’d not be deprived of a free life, all because of my color at birth
And surely, I’d find that my past strife would urge me to work for my worth.

My mother, a servant in Beaufort — my father, the slave owner’s son,
All hushed by their need for concealment, where the white of my black was homespun;
I was named Robert Smalls for that reason and slaved in their fields as a youth
Then shipped off to Charleston, unseasoned, to slave on their docks — Gospel truth!

Sail maker would soon become rigger and then onward I’d pilot their ships,
Always the slave and the ‘nigger’ [sic] and always kept under their grips.
’twas Charleston, South Carolina that faced the first shots of that war
And I at wheel of a steamer, saw freedom like never before!

In the early hours of May13th, the white crew aboard took shore leave
And left me in charge of my own life as well as that ship I’d now thieve.
The C.S.S. Planter was loaded with all of my kinfolk and peers
It served us as liberty’s motive and way to escape our past years.

I then donned the captain’s attire and steered out through mine-laden bay,
I’d signal the guards at Fort Sumter and head out the ocean’s seaway
Once out of Confederate gun range, I made a fast dash to be free
Knowing full well that we’d look strange to the blockade and Union navy.

With white flag a’waving surrender, I offered up guns and the ship
And all of us joined with those forces to challenge the South’s leadership —
How civil is war of derision when folks are not treated with fair?
It certainly made “split-decision” a term for this nation’s warfare.

Ev’ry good war has its heroes and I wanted to fill those big shoes
After the war I returned to the place where now I could alter old views.
I served five terms as a Congressman and constituent’s rep for what’s right
Offering reasons to take a stand when life presented foresight!

I also would purchase the mansion where Mother and I were enslaved;
It stands for new eras of fashion and all of the things we once craved.
I wanted release so I sought it, I worked in the South as a slave
Freedom took plenty of forethought and more than a fair share of brave.

Special Notes:
Robert Smalls (1839-1916) was a black American statesman who was born a slave and made a daring escape at the beginning of the Civil War. After the war he went on to have a successful political career; first serving in the South Carolina House of Representatives and the South Carolina Senate before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1874. Later in his life he was appointed U.S. Collector of Customs in Beaufort South Carolina serving from 1889 through 1911.

An interesting fact is that he bought and lived in the house in which he had been a slave. He actually allowed his former slave-master’s wife to move back into the house shortly before her death.

Robert Smalls died on February 23rd of 1915, the cause of death was unspecified.

Barb Whitmarsh
Bayou City II, Texas

(To Dad)

He will always be my Monet
My tired-eyed yet dutiful father
All of his paintings
Are emblazoned on my mind
Hanging on the walls of my heart
-I claim them all-
By virtue of my memories
Of every brushstroke
And resistant signature
That defined his uniqueness
Perhaps he thought I
Didn’t take his painting seriously enough
-But I did –
I admired every application of his sable brushes
That transformed paint into life
And if and when we meet again one day
I’ll reassure him with the words
“Dad, you always were and will be
My Monet.”

Rose Baldwin
Palm Springs Branch, California

The book was on a list
of poetry to read
of course I bought a copy
of such a famous screed

I gave it to my sister
she gave it to a friend
who gave it to her mother
who gave it back again

I gave it to the library
to lend and lend and lend
they sold in a bargain bag
I had it back again

I gave it to Goodwill
a bargain hunter there
scooped it off the shelf
then put it out to share

Susie picked it up from there
and she gave it to Lee
who gave it to his brother
who gave it back to me

Finally, I read it
the words were like a balm
stroking all my soft spots
rhythmic like a song

So touched was I, I said,
I have a real fine gift here
I wrapped it in nice paper
and gave it to my sister

Mimi Paris
Boca Raton

The Emergency Room
numbers on the screen
keep on going down.
I head for the nurse.
She’s talking, laughing.

I tell her, “Look!”
Her face shows fear.
My heart beats fast
and I run back.

Stuff rolls in,
Lots of staff.
Room is packed.

Shouts heard:
“Try again!”

“Gone.”

Lorraine Walker Williams
Southwest Florida Branch

To place, slip seeds into moist soil,
shutter from light, incubate and wait.
To plant is the first lesson in patience.

Plant, as a particular phylum and
species, ornamental, cleansing air,
bringing outdoors in. For Feng Shui,
a plant is a lesson in placement.

Plant, as in yourself on the couch,
a park bench, or a bumpy bus.
An attempt to be rooted in time and
space, a lesson in belonging.

Plant, an implant, something foreign,
a replacement or enhancement,
as in tooth or breast. This teaches
impermanence.

Plant includes the word plan—
Making and revising,
following or ignoring a plan,
a lesson in flexibility.

Plant words flowing and growing
from the hand of a poet,
the lesson of jasmine and plums.