by Tamara J Madison
…while navigating the abyss of bondage,
Green gathered his remaining tenderness,
offered himself to Cassandra, who agreed and
together conjuring freedom with their last breaths,
Green and Cassandra
begat
Lancaster,
Lyddie,
Paulina,
Jennie and
Malinda, who submitted to Owen, who
“owned” her, did as he pleased,
such is the privilege of thralldom;
Owen and Malinda
begat
Mary and
Nancy Iona, who married Clark E., Sr.,
a fine country preacher, who asked
properly, built the church, saved souls,
the closest to Jesus she could reach;
Clark and Nancy
begat
Viorah, “Papa’s” favorite, not so country
daughter, who ran away to the city,
married not a preacher but Alvin
with the army uniform and “good hair,”
Alvin and Viorah
never
begat—
worked roots in her youth
“purified” her womb, made it so;
Clark and Nancy
begat
Carlton Dulaney who followed
“Papa’s” footsteps through the fields
to the pulpit until he stumbled
awe struck, Marie Jane;
Carlton and Marie
begat
Clark E., Jr.,
who survived only
a few days, just
long enough for Carlton
and Marie to age
with ache, bleed
bitter fever;
Carlton and Marie
begat
C.E., who gingerly carried
bits of alphabet for a name,
memorial to the short life/long loss
of the first born before him,
C.E. magnified his fathers’
ministerial legacies;
Carlton and Marie
begat
James Henry Eagle Allen,
who refused the plow, the fields, the pulpit;
kept a wrench in his hands,
preferred the military and expeditions
to foreign lands, made himself a legend
by his own might, his own right;
Carlton and Marie
begat
finally a daughter,
MariOla, who thirsting adventure,
wandered into the arms of a different
James, his claim to fame the ball court
and other women’s hearts, but
James and MariOla became one
as much as
sun and moon,
oil and water,
fire and flint
could?
James and MariOla,
begat
BabySister,
(the only sibling I know of)
and Poet
me…
Tamara J. Madison is a writer, poet, editor, and instructor currently living in Central Florida. She is an MFA graduate of New England College with a focus in poetry and the inaugural senior fellow of Anaphora Literary Arts. Her work has been reviewed and published in various journals and literary magazines including The Amistad, Poetry International, Cider Press Review, and World Literature Today. Her most recent full-length poetry collection, Threed, This Road Not Damascus, was published by Trio House Press.