for rosa parks
mama rosa,
what ephemeral hands & fingers stitched;
fancy sewed together pieces of the life
your designer self prepared;
a life turned lens & symbol
where
A people's spirit,
A people's hope & humanity
converged as after refraction
or reflection into a clear, sharp image
of selfhood.
that spirit, hope & humanity
washed in the blood of an
innocent emmett murdered 100 days before
was quickened; was felt to move in
the womb of your rebellion.
your charmingly odd & artful rebellion —
when weariness of soul & body
bade u keep your seat &
defy hurtful, heritable racism;
put your delicate hips in jail —
was sewn with a single thread;
your exquisite insurgency —
a running stitch turned
decorative embellishment —
engendered a bus boycott, the meteoric
rise of one who rendered our aspirations
in clear outline & sharp detail in
a dream whose designs & pictures
were wrought from colored threads
of pathos & poignancy;
injury & injustice
permanently stitched into the layered
fabrics of our lives.
well done, mother.
u have given the best of your service &
come to the end of your journey.
shake off life's weariness now & rest.
your part in this struggle is done!
© Joseph McNair ; 2009
One of the true mothers of civil rights
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