Where I am From
BY PETRA THOMBS
Where I am From is the ground of being;
Born in Bed-Sty Brooklyn, The People’s Republic,
Mama came From the Great Migration to Harlem,
Daddy sailed From Trinidad in 1929, West Indian pride,
Vincente From Venezuela, Pedro From Spain.
Grandmama was Caribe Indian, her
Haitian ancestors stolen From the sands of Senegal,
Captured From The Yoruba people-
Spirited From Oshun, the Motherland, to an ocean away.
Mama’s Cherokee heritage sold onto plantations,
Our Trail of Tears, stained the unfree soil of North Carolina, the T’salagi who’ve always been From here,
They fled home to Virginia, as great granddads candy shop was set ablaze by the Klan.
I am From the children born of Mother Earth,
descended from Father Sky,
living among all my relations,
in a sweet, sweet, circle of life.
We will be whole again,
From the centuries cycle of sadness,
We will be one, we will be made whole,
back to where we are From.