Explicit language in the text of the poem.
Welcome to this week's Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This week's episode features Christopher D. Sims.
Sims is from the West Side of Rockford and first shared his poetic gifts onstage at Haskell Elementary School, thanks to Dorothy Paige-Turner.
Rooted in Black joy and celebration, his poems wind through the landscapes of this country's past and present. He hopes they will inform, engage, and entertain. Sims, who originally wrote rap and hip-hop lyrics, said his poetry has a bebop cadence. Sims shared a Juneteenth poem with our listeners last year and today he is sharing his most recent piece about the holiday. It's called "Juneteenth-The- Story."
Jump for joy, they did.
Enslaved, still, in Galveston,
Texas. Hadn’t learned of their
turn. Slave drivers still forcing
them so they could continue
to earn. As the sun burned,
as days turned into night,
there was no freedom in
sight. Despite the writing,
the signing, of
the Emancipation
Proclamation, slaves still
existed in this nation.
No one told Blacks
in Galveston;
no one made an
announcement. Hands
still picked; slavemasters
were still getting rich, richer,
richer than most, ‘cause
the slave market was
still not closed. No one
had spoke about slaves
Now being free all across
the country! Our ancestors,
our people, our collective
had not connected to the
message. Slave owners
not wanted a deficit in
their dividends. Hell,
make ‘em slaves ‘til
the end! Make ‘em pick
cotton or tobacco always!
May they be slaves ‘til
they are buried in their
graves! Still owned,
women and men grown,
children too! All the while
the sneaky bastards who
bargained for them knew!
But in came the news.
In came the reality. Slaves
were now freed people.
Lincoln’s law got out.
Slaves screamed, they
did shout. Out of massa’s
rule, out of the shackles
at his house, on his plantation.
June 1865 is when this
happened. Free now in
Galveston two years
later. The is their story,
this is how we reached
what is now called
Juneteenth!
© Christopher D. Sims
June 1st, 2023
