Sacred Mud
( for Fannie Lou Hamer)
I want the whispers of the ancestors
who moistened the land with their blood
I want u
liftin’ the eyes of our children
after they kiss this sacred mud…
want a church big enuf
for yr giant spirit
made by Black worker’s hands…
want a circle of women in white
of all ages
washin’ u in a sea of praise dance…
want the hauntin’ echo of yr golden eggs
burned from yr open womb
want u orderin’ a column of Black angels
to make sure Jim Crow
stays down in his tomb…
want yr cloudpartin’ shouts of power
reared back
lightin’ new stars in the sky…
want yr quantum leap from sharecropper
to nonviolent stormtrooper
to calibrate in Bob Moses’ four eyes…
I want the inmates’ schizophrenic sweat
from when they beat u
bloodblue purple and red
want chickens
to come home to roost for them crackers
who wanted to see u dead…
want yr battle borne blood shot eyes
framin’ u tellin’ our lynchscarred story
want u lyricizin’ our triumph
over evil and terror
sproutin’ from yr big chested glory…
want a church
big enuf for yr giant spirit
made by proud
Black worker’s hands
want a circle of sisters in white
washin’ u in a sea of praise dance…
want the whispers of the ancestors
who enriched the land with their spilled blood
want u raisin’ the eyes of our children
after they first
kiss
this sacred mud…
Copyright © 2016 by Baba Zayid Muhammad
Zayid Muhammad is a jazz poet, stage actor and well-known “cub” of the N.Y. chapter of the Black Panther Party. He is currently working on two volumes of poetry, The Soul Poems-Offerings of Love and Rage and We Ride! For Malcolm, The Black Panther Party And Those Who Dare To Heir.