Of No Nation, a Poem by A'Ja Lyons
I’ll never know their names But I bear the signs of their pride The sacrifices The stains Which bore many gifts That led to my gains The phonetics and poetics of my name That map the linguistic trail of my bloodline Pieces and particulars Scattered and tarnished Woven together for the tapestry that is me Humble farmers Forced to migrate In waves of pain Among dangerous waves Of seas that swallowed Pieces of me, He, and she In salvation As we became those without a nation Stra