African American History Month Poetry and Essay Contest Winner

African American History Month Poetry ContestFirst Prize Recipient: Ashley Maser

Rosewood Massacre, 1923

White ivory snakes through tipu timber,
deep rosewood grain glossed in sable,
my grandfather's initials etched in the surface -
CRM

Thick fingers pressed against a letter opener,
his only calm amongst a clutter of
tax forms and tape dispensers,
staples and sticky notes,
model fire engines, mechanical pencils,
glasses that hung on his sagging ears,
lanyard resting over fleshy folds.

His face singed by the heat of burning buildings,
hands charred, pulling at ashen bodies,
could have been a hero in the massacre,
but not my grandfather, not an old bigot like him.
All he left to me, his ivory inlaid desk,
is a rosewood reminder of them.