C A Butts

Declaration of Independence

(The Day My Mother Went Insane)

By Carolyn A. Butts

the day she went insane

my mother declared herself

a Sovereign State

She threw away money

Washington, Lincoln & Jackson

went up in flames

she hung a red flag

in the living room,

declared her home a new nation

The day my mother went insane

started 25 years ago

She passed a law against

Red meat,

declared it an illegal contraband

in her home

She tossed

pork chops, steak and

even the leftover

fried chicken

in the trash

Her insanity she says

Is God´s Wisdom

the day my mother went insane

she threw away her pressing comb,

let her hair lock

she screamed about conspiracies

against Black boys and girls,

attending schools that don´t teach

and dying at the hands of cops

that kill

the day my mother went insane

American doctors held her hostage,

tried to make her believe Prozac

and talk shows were real

tried to make her believe

that killing babies

was okay

tried to make her believe

their insanity

was reality

the day my mother went insane

I cried, silently

because she was

Free

A nation unto her own.

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Carolyn Butts has been writing poetry and prose since she was ten years old. Extremely shy as a child, she saw writing as a way of communicating and expressing herself. It was a way out of her shell. Carolyn explains, "I used to be so shy that I had one best friend and she would ask the teachers if I could use the bathroom because I was so afraid of raising my voice and speaking in public. I was the kid who sat in the back or front of the class and never said a word. But I heard all." Since then Carolyn has shed her shyness and published African Voices Magazine, a NY based literary magazine which has featured the work of many established and upcoming writers and visual artists. Carolyn is also working on her own poetic debut, "God's Pen." check her website www.carolynabutts.com or www.africanvoices.com.

* * * * *

update 3 August 2008