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Aunt Chloe                                                                                                              Copyright © 2011; All Rights Reserved by Author


Portrait of Old Ma
by
Suzanne Sunshower


Rarest portrait of all:
              tintype of a Black woman
forebearer   (original
                                       mountain)
– deepest shadow
of country’s darkest hour.

Thumbing the smoky image
in awe
a visiting neighbor-lady says softly
    Wasn’t it a sin
        what those slave masters did
to the women?

My child’s mind processes
the reverent whisper
                 and knows     just knows
what is meant.

Old Ma’s portrait tells all

before film   almost
                 before photograph –
rugged great-great face   worn
eyes deep-creased / battered
crack of mouth
                forming bitter line:
Ain’t I A Woman?
in thick mississippi drawl / voice
   like muddy river pounding rock...

They used to say
being “sold down the river”
to mississippi
was the cruelest fate –
the sun blazing    always blazing.
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