Sistah Joy

I've known Sistah Joy for 20 years and she is always a new sunrise, a warm cup of tea, light on the lake, bluebirds in the snow, a source of the Divine. -Grace Cavalieri

Sistah Joy's first collection, "Lord I'm Dancin' As Fast As I Can", includes an introduction by former Washington Post award-winning columnist, Dorothy Gilliam. Sistah Joy also authored and self-published two chapbooks: "This Garden Called Life" and "From Pain to Empowerment - The Fabric of My Being." She has received the Washington, DC Poet Laureate Special Award (2002) "for her outstanding contribution to the art of poetry in Washington, DC" and is an alum of the Washington, DC Poet Laureate's "Poets in Progress" reading series. She periodically attends the "Writers on the Green Line" a writer workshop series in Washington, DC, and has attended each of the Mariposa writers retreats in Pennsylvania.

Sistah Joy also hosts occasional poetry workshops as well. In January 2015, her group, Collective Voices, presented its 19th annual Poetry Extravaganza, a free-to-the-community literary arts event honoring Dr. Martin Luther king, Jr. at DC's MLK Library. The series, which is attended by hundreds annually and has on several occasions featured DC Poet Laureate, Dolores Kendrick, has presented over 120 poets to the Washington community.

Described as a "pioneer poet" (... E. Ethelbert Miller), Sistah Joy is a spiritually inspired poet and literary activist who works to bring poetry into the lives and minds of citizens who are often under-served or unconnected with the arts. She has served as president of the Poetry Ministry of the Prince George's county mega-church, Ebenezer AME Church, for the past 12 years and currently also serves as Poet in Residence at Black-owned, community-based Annie's Art Gallery (www.anniesartgallery.net) where she has for the past 8 years hosted the free inter-generational "Family Night Poetry Open Mic" from 6-9 pm on third Thursdays. Formerly the poetry editor of ACE Dialogue, a quarterly literary Black arts publication during its 5-year run, Sistah Joy co-produces and hosts the award-winning poetry-based cable-television show, "Sojourn with Words," which airs on CTV, the Prince George's County, Maryland local access station. The show's numerous recognitions include, among others, two (national) Telly Awards for excellence in cultural programming.

The Harvest

This plot

This small acreage which I plow

Shall yield good crop

For I shall tend it with great care

Till the soil

Weed it regularly

Keep it free of vermin & fetid things

I shall keep watchful eye

Irrigate it without wastefulness

Plant only the purest seed

Watch as the fullness of bounty bursts forth

And then--

Then I shall harvest

Blessing my brethren and any in need

For this plot shall yield good crop

Mighty and abundant

Providing all I have need of and more

And I shall offer it

And honor it

As I have been honored

To receive

Reflections

We must look back

Vision, you see, is premised –
Predicated upon the universe
In which it is formed

To see tomorrow’s vision, to dream
Eyes must have a frame of reference
A vantage point through which we assess what is

But not only eyes -- minds and hearts
Indeed souls can be lifted by vision
And cursed by lack of it

So we look back
Name and claim our mournings,
As freely as we seek the glory and glee of victories
Not to dwell in yesterday
Nor she in us
But to gain from her legacy, good or bad

Ancestors, elders, and tomorrow’s seed yet born
Each has or shall witness
With earthly short-sightedness
That which limits vision to all this side of Jordan

So whether we be born strong of spirit
Or weak of flesh
We are the same
And since neither war nor any of the “isms” which afflict mankind
Prevail beyond the grave
Neither free nor slave escapes the final call

We can only look back
In prayer and faith that tomorrow brings rebirth
In hopes that before or after we return to earth
Some purpose is made clear
Some deed aligned with need in a way
That our fellowship lifted another
That perhaps someone rejoiced in our being
That at least one was helped or healed by our walk
We look back

A Woman Once Laughed

Her laugh

Was gentle, soft

Warm and inviting

She shared it often

Some said, a bit too often

Such was her way

Throughout her life

She was mother

Grandmother, aunt and friend

Each role suited her just fine

Not one to shout

Not her style

She preferred to smile

And laugh

Gentle and soft

Often tinged with nervousness

Her delicate laugh

Danced like ripples from

A stone skipping

Across a satin lake

Her pain

Like the bruises

Beneath her make-up

Remained hidden

Behind her smile and her laugh

Such was her choice

Such was her way

Throughout a life

Riddled with pain,

Heartache and sorrow

Punctuated by punch-lines

That had nothing to do with laughter

This Freedom Thing

There are some that have come to know freedom

Only through ancestors’ woeful echoes
Those whose chorus of un-ripened dreams
Were turned nightmare
Work songs from field, chain, even church
But seldom CEO
Songs sung and clung to for life

Pain-birthed melodies from slaves
Whose souls uttered
Unlettered words of hope
Courage and resolve
Such was and is our story

It is for them that I lift prayer
For them, they who sift spirit from sorrow
While searching the horizon for signs of the familiar

They who bid me, even now
To sing their song
Of loss and pain
In verse made plain

They plead me to release it
To the universe
Shout it from faith's
Highpoint of hope
They say, steal away
Search out this freedom thing

Claim it
Revere and hold it dear
Create it when necessary
But always keep it safe

Grow it from whisper to shout song
Then, hand it down
Tender and prideful to the young ones
Teach them to make it their own

So I hold fast to the thing
So many never knew

It is for them that I write
For them that I strive
To create beauty from tears
Certain that this freedom thing
Which some would deny me – is near

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Comments

Janice F Booth (not verified)

Sat, 11/18/2023 - 5:41am

Your poems are strong and sing in your voice, Sistah Joy. I particularly appreciate the bittersweet "A Woman Once Laughed." The lines croon softly, falling into tears. "Punctuated by punch-lines /That had nothing to do with laughter."

Sistah Joy (not verified)

Sat, 01/06/2024 - 3:05pm