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Poets Respond to The Buffalo Soldier

The following poems were written by Rochester area poets in respsonse to The Buffalo Soldier:

Mesa

High land open space
where sky stretches blue elastic arms
wide about you dry sea horizons
Kinships of difference define
and bind, mammal warmth
flesh on hide, hand on fur
the small advantage of digits
serve to scratch, brush, gather feed
earn the privilege of texture under fingers
sweet fur, tender bristle, another heart
mammoth muscle, cup sized nostrils
learn forgotten lessons in brown oceans of eyes
another language of breath and gesture
caress wild wisdoms which carry you
carry you carry you home

--Akua Lezli Hope

When the Rains Came

His taciturn velvet cheek
shone a deep shade of
chocolate brown beneath
his prized yellow cap –
the one emblazoned
with the black silhouette
of a buffalo,
formidable creature,
venerable symbol of pride,
ergo of hope.

He was a stranger here,
lonely urban youth,
nose pressed against
a thick rural pane.
Furtively poring through
photographs of two precious
blue-eyed girls.
Slipping his small
dark fingers over faceless
angels chiseled into
uber-white headstones.
Knowing he could never
replace them – for he was
no angel, though
he sure could use one.

Was she his angel?
this broken woman
who took him in,
grieving mother who
turned her heart
toward his, sharing
her blue-eyed ghosts,
unclenching her fierce
grip on the perfect shape
of a family,
daring to reconstitute
her own – from unlikely
ingredients at hand.

He was her son now,
this skinny-legged boy
straddling aloft his
horse's broad girth.
small frame echoing
smooth undulations
of a splendid canter.
Images of buffalo soldiers,
confident, brave and black,
filled his head
as new familial love
filled his heart –
two deep reservoirs
of strength
driving him forth,
carrying him
toward his moment
of tender heroism
when the rains came.

--Susan Baruch

Hold Your Breath
(inspired by the ending)

Watch the jump
Watch the instincts
Push against hope
See the dreams
Held carefully in hand
See the boy on the back of instinct
Go up
See the adolescent scan the horizon
See the man decide if a landing is possible

--Katherine Gale DaCosta © 2007

Foster Child

Foster child,
bodily present
in their rooms.

Their questions:
thin balloon skins
containing
their needs.

My answers:
naked thoughts
searching for words
to clothe them.

My words escape:
Risking prick, puncture.

--Kathy Button

Alfred

They just might take it all back
Withdraw the food
Withdraw the love
So I must store what I can

I’ll feed and brush Mesa daily
She’ll have food
She’ll have love
I’ll sit proud on her back

Paul and Emily could travel or die
Withdraw themselves
Withdraw their kindness
So I must spend time with them now

I’ll not give Laura any trouble
She’ll love me
She’ll adopt me
I’ll be part of a family

--Ed Scutt

fostered itinerant
 
 
alfred in vermont
different town again
an outsider
no invites to play

stashes of food
closeted from view
for sustenance
in uncertain times

enter his heroes
laura paul mesa
rules of conduct
buffalo soldier

--Linda Wood

The Triangle Affair

If two fell from one place
Would God, in His wisdom
Let them fall far from His grace?

Would He act to stop what was right in our eyes?
Seeing that our hearts and minds are blind
That they deny the goodness He gave to us

Love is so torn apart
Love is misunderstood even by love itself
And for love's sake
We take it in vain
At knife point
Thinking we rule it
Like a slave
But love will burn us all
In the end
When the end itself becomes our only friend
And when the flames devour us
We will know
What love was

--Steven K. Mojsovski

The Little Buffalo Soldier

Lost and alone
without even a phone
he can talk on. Albert is gone
so many lengths long
to proclaim it.

Al quietly takes
what little it makes
for security measure.
Lacking in pleasure
to frame it.

While Laura is forlorn,
Terry is torn
between right and wrong
ensuing love’s throng
to tame it.

Wanting his blood
after the flood
made a mistake
causing a quake
in marriage.

Ending too quickly
the story is thickly
riddled with character
fraught ever after
with memorable fate.

--Cynthia Louise Blair

Just Enough to Hold

A photographer checks the lens.

There the woman stands
motionless even before being asked.
Her head is down…practicing.

“I try to smile but why does it feel like a grimace?”
“I see the water swirling again.”
Memories bubble to the top as I push the pain lower.

CLICK

Her husband glances around furtively,
as if searching for a prop or a hiding place.

“Why can’t the past stay in the past?”
“Why does my inadequacy flaunt itself in everything I do?”

CLICK

Nearby, the boy pushes his cap down and then up
readjusting it
so the emblem is framed at full advantage.
Then stands at his tallest.

“I will be like those soldiers…brave. I think.”

Further, away, the soldiers stand together,
shoulder-to-shoulder to fit into the frame.
After brushing off well-worn uniforms
and coming in from a day of hard riding,
a smile is too difficult.

They stand staring
like the buffalo
still.

CLICK …CLICK…CLICK

--Judy DeCroce

Resources Available

The following materials are available at W&B, and at local libraries and bookstores: