The trade winds
brought you here
once upon a time
snatched you from
the comfort that
was your home
sent you sailing
across the Atlantic
landing near
the Carolina coast
hand-delivered
in rural Georgia
where you were
freed from your
original sin
december two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
smile and play the tambourine little girl
the man said
and the little girl shook the tambourine
every fourth beat she struck it
against her palm
the streets were filled with foreigners
and many businessmen attracted
to the darkened rooms
barely lit by neon lights
outside the little girl shakes the tambourine
her soul sisters inside
in the darkened rooms
filled with neon lights
the man outside standing next
to the tambourine girl
animates his voice and gestures
joyously greeting and
beckoning passersby to come inside
to rest their weary minds
meanwhile the girls inside
shake shake shake
their tarnished tambourines
This poem is in response to a blog post by Lara Trace entitled BILLIONS TRAFFICKING AND ENSLAVING “DISPOSABLE PEOPLE”
“It’s all about the money. Human trafficking is insanely profitable. If you really think about it: You can sell a kilo of Heroin once; You can sell a 13-year-old girl 20 times a night, 365 days a year.”
To read Lara Traces’s blog post and learn what you can do please click HERE
july two thousand sixteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
I imagine running in my native land
known only as Windward Coast
existing in the spoken word
handed down from a language
forced upon my people
Awakening to my nightmarish reality
I prepare to run yet another night
my instructions given and repeated
inside a barn outside Portsmouth
known to me as station number nine
We pursue the waning gibbous
across the Ohio and into the arms
of extraordinary people who
provide encouragement and provisions
and a promise our new life is near
I imagine I’ll run even beyond my death
but for our children they will live
unrestrained and without images
of bounty hunters or bloodhounds
chasing them in their dreams
june two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
jdubqca 