In Poetry
by Valerie Bridgeman
Valerie Bridgeman is distinguished visiting associate professor of homiletics and Hebrew Bible at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, and is the founding president and CEO of WomanPreach!, Inc., an organization that brings preaching women into full prophetic voice around issues of equity and justice. She describes herself as an activist scholar-preacher who has served as a professor, a non-profit organizational leader, and a pastor.
Walking
shiny shoes, head high
I wonder how Ruby Bridges
kept moving
amid the angry scowls
and nasty words hurled
at her six-year-old feet
and first grade dreams
of a shorter walk
and better education
New Orleans under order
integration a federal demand
and Ruby surrounded
by armed men, a little girl giant
in the face of their pitiful
hatred. Guarded by unseen angels
and the faith of a mother
She kept moving
through crowds of screams,
towards peers who
were not her equal,
the history she stamped out
with little feet walking bold
and fierce
Walking strong.
NOTE: Ruby Bridges was the six-year-old who integrated New Orleans public schools under federal court orders (http://www.rubybridges.com/story.htm).
Apocalypse/When Freedom Could be Had
Bull Connor was a symbol,
more than anything. He was the sign
of End Times and the violence always
prophesied as worlds collapse
end/begin/end again. Bull Connor
could see beyond the veil.
And Alabama was just one state
of the Apocalypse. Hatred
has many addresses.
Terrified, Connor gave terror legs.
Dogs were his servants. Water hoses
his baptismal stream. He knew
no bounds. But he was not alone.
His visions made him crazy.
Or made his insanity stronger.
Does it matter? He was only
a symbol of a region gone mad.
Everything he did, he did in the name of a whites-only kingdom.
He didn’t imagine children of another world who were not afraid of death
when freedom could be had.
NOTE: Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor was Public Safety Commissioner in Birmingham, Alabama, during the Birmingham Campaign of 1963 when children filled the streets and were hosed and had dogs turned on them.
Valerie Bridgeman is distinguished visiting associate professor of homiletics and Hebrew Bible at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, and is the founding president and CEO of WomanPreach!, Inc., an organization that brings preaching women into full prophetic voice around issues of equity and justice. She describes herself as an activist scholar-preacher who has served as a professor, a non-profit organizational leader, and a pastor.
Walking
shiny shoes, head high
I wonder how Ruby Bridges
kept moving
amid the angry scowls
and nasty words hurled
at her six-year-old feet
and first grade dreams
of a shorter walk
and better education
New Orleans under order
integration a federal demand
and Ruby surrounded
by armed men, a little girl giant
in the face of their pitiful
hatred. Guarded by unseen angels
and the faith of a mother
She kept moving
through crowds of screams,
towards peers who
were not her equal,
the history she stamped out
with little feet walking bold
and fierce
Walking strong.
NOTE: Ruby Bridges was the six-year-old who integrated New Orleans public schools under federal court orders (http://www.rubybridges.com/story.htm).
Apocalypse/When Freedom Could be Had
Bull Connor was a symbol,
more than anything. He was the sign
of End Times and the violence always
prophesied as worlds collapse
end/begin/end again. Bull Connor
could see beyond the veil.
And Alabama was just one state
of the Apocalypse. Hatred
has many addresses.
Terrified, Connor gave terror legs.
Dogs were his servants. Water hoses
his baptismal stream. He knew
no bounds. But he was not alone.
His visions made him crazy.
Or made his insanity stronger.
Does it matter? He was only
a symbol of a region gone mad.
Everything he did, he did in the name of a whites-only kingdom.
He didn’t imagine children of another world who were not afraid of death
when freedom could be had.
NOTE: Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor was Public Safety Commissioner in Birmingham, Alabama, during the Birmingham Campaign of 1963 when children filled the streets and were hosed and had dogs turned on them.
