ancestry
a free verse poem for Climacteric: On the Turning Point
“What has remained unacknowledged is that, like the slave trade and the extermination of the indigenous populations of the ‘New World,’ the witch hunt stands at a crossroad of a cluster of social processes that paved the way for the rise of the modern capitalist world.” — Silvia Federici, “Wiches, Witch-Hunting, and Women”
because i am reeling in the bright of these revelations
because i keep getting the same headache
because children’s names are listed in the wills of my ancestors
because receipts really can be followed all the way back
because inherited property
because overseers are seen as low-class, incompetent, cruel, good for nothin’s
because my 3rd great grandfather was one
because forced submission
because spectacular violence tempered by profit motive
because the women have so few records to flesh out their lives
because the men do: all military and ownership
because i have this in my blood
because the burning times
because removal
because lost cause
because Daunte Wright
because countless others
because none of this is surprising
because all of it continues to leave me winded
because my body is a plane of resistance
because i still want to know my people
because i would never have lived without them
because i know i can never be at peace without doing this work
because tomorrow awaits with fresh sorrows
because you have to break your heart to see all this
because i want to be free
and i want to see you free with me
This piece is one in a series, Climacteric: On the Turning Point, a poetic collaboration for National Poetry Writing Month (#NaPoWriMo) by Samantha Wallen and Michelle Puckett. To read the previous poem in the series, click here. To read the next poem in the series, click here.
Michelle Puckett, MFA is a poet, doula, permaculturalist, coach and Co-Founder of Creating Freedom Movements, a social justice school for activists. All of her work aims to nourish the sacred and make it plain in every day life.
