First published in: Yellow Medicine Review: The Racism Issue; edited by Zibiquah/Ruth Denny, Spring 2020

 

 

I come from a people of want

 A people of never have

Never enough, Don’t got

 

I come from a people

Where migrant workers’ tortillas, smothered in melting butter

Were springtime food

And stolen chocolate competed with Crisco-rolled-in-sugar for weekly fat count

 

I come from a people

 Who never show fear

Women who laugh in the face of 6-inch knives

 

I come from men and women

Who taught us to play ‘hide and seek’

From county social workers

The same way other kids play tag

 

I come from a people who know how to rock and roll

Play country on four-string guitars

And broken accordions

 

I come from a people who know the

Loud silence of trees and rivers flowing

And people who know that even gravel talks when listened to

 

I come from a people who calmly, softly said

‘They’re people too’

Long before any civil or equal rights movement