Image via Wikipedia
The view up here
shows us from where we’ve come.
Enslaved and used, not
the worth of a human being.
Recognition blurred–no one saw into our hearts.
Human! We are human!
Like you–just like you…
Wanting the same safety, respect, love and care.
Tools of cloth and thread,
carefully, lovingly
stitched, tell a story.
Our story, our journey,
is spelled out clearly
in these designs of
our making, of bricks
and housetops, scraps
and bits of worn-out
leftover, nothing-going
to-waste garments.
Hand-sewn and quilted by
“Ma Willie”, Annie Mae,
the Pettways, Ella Mae
and so many others.
Women, strong women
speaking as loud as
their hands would allow.
A legacy of stripes,
triangles, hopsacking,
corduroy, knits, denim
and twill left for us to
admire and remember
the quilters of Gee’s Bend
and their message of hope
and perseverance.
Strength and fortitude
carried us up here–now
we can see where we’ve
been and how far we’ve come.
Presented by Victoria C. Slotto, Fabric of Our Lives: dVerse Poets: http://dversepoets.com/2011/12/10/fabric-of-our-lives-dverse-poetics/
