{"id":1914,"date":"2013-08-30T08:40:36","date_gmt":"2013-08-30T16:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/?p=1914"},"modified":"2013-08-30T08:40:36","modified_gmt":"2013-08-30T16:40:36","slug":"gloria-burgess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/?p=1914","title":{"rendered":"Gloria Burgess"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Open Door
\nfor my ancestors and our children<\/em><\/p>\n

i wasn\u2019t there…..<\/span>i didn\u2019t stand at the threshold
\nof the open door…..<\/span>my back wasn\u2019t wracked
\nbeneath a ceiling so low even children lay prone
\nmy spirit wasn\u2019t riven…..<\/span>i wasn\u2019t cowed
\nbloodied……..<\/span>shamed……..<\/span>no one stripped me
\nof my name…..<\/span>i wasn\u2019t there…..<\/span>i wasn\u2019t at Gore\u00e9
\nor anywhere along that shore<\/p>\n

i was born inside the golden door
\nand i\u2019m here by grace standing on the shoulders
\nof women and men stout in spirit fierce in soul
\nand oh by the blessed sanctity of God
\nthough i wasn\u2019t hounded through that open door
\nor driven to cross a merciless sea i still
\nhave the sting of salt in my soul nightmares
\nof a watery grave…..<\/span>i still search furtively
\nfor signs of my tribe outstretched hands a cool
\ndrinka water calabash smile……<\/span>i still tread softly
\nmuted by the glare of ghostly strangers…….<\/span>i still push back
\nthe rising bile when a glassy-eyed elder looks too long
\nor wide…..<\/span>i\u2019ve learned to question all kinds of kings
\nto stand firm on the laps of queens…..<\/span>some days
\ni can\u2019t tell the difference and fall to my knees
\ndragged down by the tide all over again<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“The Open Door” is reprinted from\u00a0Gathering Ground<\/em> (University of Michigan Press); The Open Door<\/em> (Red Oak Press).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gloria Burgess\u2019s<\/a> poetry celebrates the spiritual and evocative oral traditions of her ancestry\u2014African, Native American, and Celtic. Her poetry appears in diverse publications, including The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South,<\/a> Gathering Ground,<\/a> The Open Door<\/a><\/em>,<\/a> and Journey of the Rose<\/a><\/em>.<\/a> In her latest book, Dare to Wear Your Soul on the Outside, <\/em><\/a>she weaves in threads of inspirational poetry, narrative, and reflections, along with the touching story of her father\u2019s life-changing relationship with Nobel Laureate William Faulkner. www.gloriaburgess.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Open Door for my ancestors and our children i wasn\u2019t there…..i didn\u2019t stand at the threshold of the open door…..my back wasn\u2019t wracked beneath a ceiling so low even children lay prone my spirit wasn\u2019t riven…..i wasn\u2019t cowed bloodied……..shamed……..no … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[61,199,29,505,8,1],"tags":[647,648],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1914"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1915,"href":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1914\/revisions\/1915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}