Juneteenth

https://portside.org/2024-06-14/juneteenth
Portside Date:
Author: Peter Neil Carroll
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Juneteenth

By Peter Neil Carroll

                                                In memory of P. Sterling Stuckey

He was tall, built vertical,

lean, lips thin, taut, seldom

flashed his gentle smile

to remind you (and himself)

that he was on to something big,

that would surprise you, something

of sudden insight, breaking a code.

And when the moment came,

clear, truthful—

the story of the Ring Shout,

the counterclockwise dance,

little bits of burial glass,

the antique vision that traveled

back to Africa, forward to

the monotonous cotton—

he could praise the secret deity,

he had found the key. 

Peter Neil Carroll's latest collections of poetry are This Land, These People which won the Prize Americana and Sketches from Spain: Homage to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. 


Source URL: https://portside.org/2024-06-14/juneteenth