History Lesson/1960s
what we
tried
to do
with our dreams,
we hoped to erase all time
errors,
smash with raised strong
clenched fists
all the remaining walls
and bully, bribe, or captivate
any unfavorable gods
against our cause.
so like banners
and flags, our dreams unfurled
before all the world,
we marched
our words we sent forth
as our warriors.
oh how sweet the
censers of victory and freedom
were going to be.
and we wanted never to
dream again,
awake or asleep,
if we could not change the signature
of the world.
Notes:
First published in the chapbook We’re Only Human (Eden Press, 1994) before appearing in the journal Reverie: Midwest African American Literature, edited by Randall Horton. Reproduced with permission of Nina Rodgers Gordon.
This poem is part of the portfolio “Carolyn Marie Rodgers: What Beauty We Now Have” from the October 2022 issue.
Source:
Poetry
(October 2022)
