Truth
Slave
Freedman
Saved
Free Soul
First birth I was a twinkle
Faithful Isabella, first
Birth deep earth uneven
And ungrounded light
Cannot fall, father was tall, called
Bomefree or low Dutch for tree.
Mother, Mau-mau Bett. Sweet.
I remember thee as shade
And sun, sold as sheep
Jesus. Where were you
When my parents cried?
Mau-mau showed
Her children a moon,
His light
Bathed their minds,
Their souls
Knew possession
no one can see/ how I should be/
the bonehouse is where I want to flee/ where no one
can whip me/No One with your omniscient eyes/
leave my body/ allow transcendentality
Pipes we smoke and plant 'round pits
Fly into Heaven--a breath from God
Graves scattered with shells, glass, flashes
For quick travel to safety, the sacred
Holy Wind of Whitsuntide
As a women
She smoked
A small clay pipe
Fella say, no unclean
Thing can enter
The Kingdom of Heaven,
And you with that
Smoker's breath ain't.
Says Truth, "When I go,
I 'spect to leave my breath behind."
Was the faithful Bell of Hardenberg
was a twinkle--Isabella
Memory and orality
Visionary literacy
I told Jesus it'd be all right
If He changed my name
Mauled so badly by a mob
Walked life with a cane
Sojourner Truth I became
Visionary memory
Amanuensis or numina
Where narrative is silent
Her song, strong truthful tones
In the cellar of her birth
Bomefree and she
Exchanged
Their last thought
No longer than a finger
"I am colored, thank God for that;
I have not the curse of God upon me
On a small island in a small stream
Speaking loudly as her breath blew
Willows silver falls
Insurrection carry off
Her cries to God
June 1 the clarion blows
East from Brooklyn to Long Island
"Lord giveth me a new home.
I must be about my Father's business."
Dusts off her traveling shoes, loads up
Some cartes de visite; her Narrative;
And an album for autographs:
The "Book of Life"
It was early in the morning,
It was early in the morning,
Just at the break of day,
When He rose, when He rose, when He rose,
And went to Heaven on a cloud.
And trees wave in glory
Stones shine like laughter
And she shouts "Praise to the Lord
Love to all creatures!"
In Quaker garb
Stands six feet
Tall lean royal
Sibilla Libica
Chin rests on
Broad hard palm
Eyes bespeak
Power to bind
For Aunty Sojourner Truth
Oct. 29, 1864
A. Lincoln
In portraiture Sojourner reclines,
Lincoln above. Two mouths
Shut. The "Book of Life" open.
Six months later, our President dead
In truth, Lincoln is seated at his desk when
Sojourner arrives. He stands and bows upon
introduction.
He says:
All presidents would have emancipated
those brought in bondage if the time had come,
and if those on the other side of the river
had not done evil, I wouldn't have had
the opportunity to do good.
An instrument of God
Both hands receiving, one his one hers
Call again Sojourner, my friend
We are done with hoeing cotton,
We are done with hoeing corn;
We are colored Yankee soldiers
As sure as you are born.
When massa hears us shouting,
He will think 'tis Gabriel's horn,
As we go marching on.
Whipping posts
Linsey-woolsey dress tied up the legs
Melted fat drips scalding scalp
Starvation
Rape
Rough sex
Rough coffin
Bloodhounds
Rat eaten
Raw
Lashed, bound
Auction block
Ears boxed
Shackled, branded
Babes torn from mothers' breasts
Nipples torn from babes
As we go marching on
As we go marching on
As we go marching on
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