Full Moon Night

                   (For Rudy) 

          By Jeannette Drake

Lord, they say

the man's "cool . . . unruffled."

Opposite sides of earth waiting

for him to steal a moment

of relief,

but Lord, You know

down here

we in trouble, serious trouble

and I don't mean just sweating Baptists 

singing over and over how we got ovah

or old men too weary to sing the blues

all them too in those snowbound Alaskan

woods where deer and moose used to play

and babies' lips and fingers turning blue,

no milk to drink and dried fish now gone too

and in Western Province, South Africa

where bare-skinned tourists stay while miles away

black boys scratch garden dust and pray 

for rain.   Hey Lord, I know you hear me 'cause

I still got peas and carrots, chicken

and dark chocolate too, if I want it

and I know You know

I give thanks.

Still Lord, We

All We

All We need your mercy,

Have Mercy, Mercy Lord, Have Mercy

in my momma's words,

this is all I ask.

©  Jeannette 2-10-09

*   *   *   *   *

Tribe

     By Jeannette Drake

now i belong somewhere

outside the weeping,

outside the third life of grange copeland

i'm birthing

inside the communion of the dead

the living August

fire of my native tongue

i, too, sing of thee

wine's turning to water

a cup, a river, an ocean

i'm walking across the bones,

bones, bones, bones,

oh hear the words

of the bones

rejoice they say

rejoice!

© Jeannette Drake 1-23-09

*   *   *   *   *

At Last

     (For Bigger)

                                By Jeannette Drake

i tried to catch his tear

cup it into one corner of canvas

impossible brush strokes

muddied the waters

danced into hills and valleys

darker than midnight down in cypress swamps

sounds of Sam Cooke

talkin' change, no more nickels

and one thin dime, chimes, rhymes

with somewhere to play this time

"at last I understand," the boy said

years before beyonce became a star

and now there is somewhere to be,

somewhere to belong better than

the fire last time,

God of our weary years,

you still hang around. 

©. Jeannette Drake 1-21-09

The Ditchdigger’s Daughters

By Yvonne Thornton

Dr. Yvonne Thornton’s memoir The Ditchdigger’s Daughters has captured the hearts of readers everywhere since it was first published in 1995. Translated into 19 languages, featured on Oprah, and made into a TV movie, this heart-warming and inspiring story chronicles Yvonne Thornton’s family; at its center is her beloved, unschooled but wise father Donald Thornton, who demanded that all five of his daughters not only excel in school, but go on to become doctors. Four of them did; the other found her calling in law and became a lawyer instead.—Dafina

Thornton's frank, relaxed manner makes it accessible to general readers as well as students of women's or African American memoir. Worth considering also for those looking for inspirational reads.—Library Journal