Lenard Moore's new book of poetry, A TEMPLE LOOMING, was featured in a December post on this blog.
http://ncpoetlaureate.blogspot.com/2008/12/templ
Sunday Reader: The Raleigh News & Observer
Published: Jan 25, 2009 06:17 AM
Modified: Jan 25, 2009 08:07 AM
Letterpoem, November 4, 2008
By Lenard D. Moore
Comment on this story
It was in boyhood that I first listened to my maternal grandfather speak wisdom while I stood attentive in my mother and father's front yard. He also spoke wisdom while working in his garden. My grandfather told me how he had worked for 50 cents a day. In short, he didn't have much opportunity in a segregated world, nor was he allowed to vote. Therefore, I thought it was only fitting for me to address this poem to my grandfather. I wanted to express my jubilation about this new era in American history, this time when we have elected Barack Obama as the first African-American president of the United States of America. On Tuesday, I watched Obama's inauguration on television, knowing my grandfather smiles from heaven, nodding.
LETTER POEM
Dear Granddaddy,
Did you see the star
eleven and a half years ago?
I know you hadn't heard about the new nova
illuminating the global landscape.
I write to tell you that I don't know what
to say at this moment when a black man
has risen like a flag into the sky.
He's just been elected the President
of this country where your grandfather slaved.
I remember you telling me
before I became a teenaged boy,
just how tough it was in Hoover days
when you plowed fields,
dug septic holes, graves, drainage lines,
carpentered houses with your hands.
All day rain didn't stop voters from voting.
I know you would be a century now.
I am a half-century old, seeing
the dream walk across the stage this fall night.
Your grandson,
Luke
Lenard D. Moore, the first African-American president of the Haiku Society of America, is the author of "A Temple Looming." Learn more about Moore at wordtechweb.com/moore.html .
© Copyright 2009, The News & Observer Publishing Company
A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company
2 comments:
Thanks for this poem. Lenard D. Moore's poem is a strong election day poem, good to be read on 2009 Inauguration Day, good to be read any day. I like it. I favor letter poems and hope we will see a revival in that form. Writing to someone who has passed on as Lenard D. Moore wrote to his granddaddy, is one way for a poet to quickly connect past with present.
Thanks, Nancy. Lenard has done so much for the literary community in NC, and I'm glad to be able to post this poem.
Post a Comment