Alice Walker

Working Class Hero

My brothers knewThe things you know.I did not scornlearning them;It’s just my mindWas busy being trainedFor “Other Things”:Poetry, Philosophy, Literature.Survival, for a girl.But now,What a reliefTo see you understandThe waysOf horsesTheir shyness& hatredOfLoneliness:That you will notHesitateTo rescueAn old horse,Dying onHis feet&That you willCheerfullyWash him,Aged&IncontinentHeadToToe. MissingWith your bucket&RagNotOneHiddenCre viceAs heTrembles& weeps.What peaceTo seeRaising chickensDoes notMystify youandHot…

The tree of life

I thought it was so much bigger!But it is not.There in the distance I see the mountainsstill.The view of vast water stretching before meis superb.My boat is grand and I still command the captainof it; not having learned myself to sail.But I am adriftwithout my tree of lifethat has fallen heavywithout grace or pityon this…

If my sorrow were deeper

the ocean’s floor;but today I learn that the oilthat pools beneath the ocean flooris essenceresidueremainsof all ourrelationsallour ancestors who have died and turned to oilwithout our witnesseons ago.We’ve always belonged to them.Speaking for you, hanging, weeping, over the water’s edgeas well as for myself.It is our griefheavy, relentless,trudgingus, however resistant,to the decaying and rottenbottom of…

She is the one

that the first snapdragonof Springisin bloom;She is the onewho will tell the mostfunny&complicatedjoke.She is the onewho will surprise youby knowing the differencebetween turnipsand collardGreens;& between biscuits& scones.She is the one who knows whereto take youfor dancingor where the food& the restaurant’sdecorare notto bemissed.She is the onewho is saintly.She is the onewho reserves the rightto dresslike…

Word reaches us

Dismayedwe have turned to the sea.We encounter among otherswalking therea sense of what we have lost:the broad expanse of humanity’ssensitivity to the oneness of itself.Gabrielle,while you sleep, resting your nimblebrain, we think of walking with youin the valleyof the shadow of death; holdingyou up.We hope you can feel our grief;our sorrow vastlike the ocean that…

Going out to the garden

to plant seedsfor my winter greens-the strong, fiery mustard& the milderbroadleaf turnip-I saw a geckowholike the rest of ushas beenreelingfrom the heat.Geckos like heatI know thisbut the heatthese last few dayshas been excessivefor us& for them.A spray of waterfrom the hosetouched its skin:I thought it wouldrun away.There are crevicesaplentyto hide in:the garden wallis made of…