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A slam poem from the perspective of Sarah and Angelina Grimké.

Crack the book that 
Re-rewrites history 
And grow new eyes to 
Legal injustice

As a girl I watched 
Color decide 
The lines between human and not 
Hit me 
Like the whip he used on your back 
Your blood flowed and your screams 
Choked my sense 
Of humanity 
Like a millstone 
Around my neck 
Growing heavier 
With each black face 
Pushed to the dirt

They said you weren’t
Allowed to know 
What letters meant 
On a page

They came from all over—
     Bahrain, Turkey, Rome:
A little band of women
     with hope all their own
To learn and to study,
     To become stronger in their faith
To encourage one another
     In the footsteps of the saints.

A womb, the currency of the day. Trade. Hagar’s womb: tilled soil. Gentile, slave, used and thrown away.

Without expression, endurance cannot be shared.

Life is like the wind
It comes and it goes
You
You have a choice to make:
How will you live
When life
Is like the wind

Why am I here and not there?

I am HERE because I have been THERE.

Who was she in the Garden, there before
The tree with cherubim and flaming Sword
Was guarded? What true thoughts, not culture's lore,
By grace, and yet by more: first fellowship's
Commune, did her mind hold, and her heart own?

Christians are used to hearing about Joseph and Mary, usually around Christmas. Then, they’re the supporting cast, and Jesus is the focus. They certainly don’t often come up in conversations about Christian marriage. Perhaps they should. If we pay attention, Joseph and Mary point us toward what makes a good marriage.

We are equal, this we know, For the Bible tells us so.
Jew and Greek to God belong; Racial barriers are all wrong.