Poetry Activity:

Here in the farmer’s field just off the highway,
the path of the harrow
is filled with liquid
red as Egypt’s Nile after Moses.

the slave's desire to return has always made sense to me
that story of liberation
laid out
in a dank church basement
filled with little moles and holy lessons
there, where I first
heard the
the low murmurs
of a mother and her children
wincing at the sound of a 1000 feet and the chariot’s wheel
trembling on sea shore.

a lack faith or so sister Vivian said,
as she passed around stale cookies and Tang,
the whole class agreed and
although I nodded, I secretly wanted them to go back .
we played the parting of the sea together later, in front
and used the pavement
as the path that God made.

Here in this farmer’s field just off the highway
the gossamer threads pull
and I am reminded of the truth about kettles and devils