Of Course a Chick had to Be First:-)

Yes. It's still Black History Month and...yes. I'm dropping a bit o' history on ya'll:-)

Check out the earliest known piece of literature by a black writer in North America. Although she was still a slave, Lucy Terry's poem was the most accurate account of a deadly raid that devastated a small New England town in 1746. It wasn't published until many years later (1855) in Josiah Holland's History of Western Massachusetts.

It's not the most beautiful poem I've ever read, but the historic significance of it gets me all giddy:-)

enjoy!

The Bar's Fight
BY Lucy Terry

Seventeen hundred forty-six
The Indians did in ambush lay
Some very valiant men to slay
The names of whom I'll not leave out
Samuel Allen like a hero fout
And though he was so brave and bold
His face no more shall we behold.

Eleazer Hawks was killed outright
Before he had time to fight
Before he did the Indians see
Was shot and killed immediately.

Oliver Amsden he was slain
Which caused his friends much grief and pain.
Samuel Amsden they found dead
Not many rods off from his head.
Adonijah Gillet we do hear
Did lose his life which was so dear.

John Saddler fled across the water
And so escaped the dreadful slaughter.
Eunice Allen see the Indians comeing
And hoped to save herself by running
And had not her petticoats stopt her
The awful creatures had not cotched her
And tommyhawked her on the head
And left her on the ground for dead.

Young Samuel Allen, Oh! lack a-day
Was taken and carried to Canada.

*Source

POETRY > War

So, I've been reading a lot about the mass rapes that happened in Guinea during last month's military crack down. Hundreds of women, peacefully protesting for democracy were ambushed and raped by military officers...in broad daylight!! I know...madness!! It made my soul hurt and more or less broke my tiny little heart into pieces all week. But, it also inspired me to search around the net for some good news.



AND, I FOUND some!! Poets Against The War. There's more than a bit of politicin' on here, so be forewarned...but it's an amazing celebration of self-expression in the face of war. The organization's mission is simple -

to continue the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression.

There is something so empowering and liberating about art:-) I was even inspired to write a bit myself.

Poetry > War
BY Susan Baba

She will never kill
for justice
and you cannot make her.
She will fight with all her might for you to see that we are all precious
from the smallest to the greatest among us
we all have worth.
She will fight
with words,
attack you when you are not looking
with the bullet of self-expression.
She will read and write and create and love until the wall breaks
and there's a crack big enough
for hope to slip through.
That is what a poet can do.

::love::peace::justice