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A Defiant Grace
for Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)
by Ewuare Osayande
you
Harlem Renaissance child
You
Langston’s lil’ sis
you
word-seamstress
created patchwork quilts
to bring comfort to the afflicted
god-mother of the Black Arts Movement
guided strident Black griots to sharpen their (s)words
readying them to do battle
showing them by your example
that commitment to community is what counts
you
sparked by the Molotov cocktail spirit of the moment
took your Pulitzer and popularity
and walked defiantly
out the front door
of the publishing house
that owned your work
and railed a broadside against America
and named it Riot
oh the accuracy of your words
the acute agony you articulated
the precise pain you penetrated
the loud love you lauded
the quiet contemplation you captured
and shared
in you was no need to boast
in being Black
just be
just be Black
and the brilliance will fall down off your back
like the shimmer from stars shooting across midnight skies
just be Black
relate to what is good
and resist what aint
is what you left us
elegant as an Ella Fitzgerald ballad
you
dignity defined
a defiant grace
skin
black and smooth as onyx
like your words
lil black stones
hurled at the Goliath
that defies our God
and denies our godliness
stones taken from the brooks
that is you.
This poem first appeared in Blood Luxury which was published by Africa World Press in 2005.
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