My words are a predestined manifesto

Written By Alexis Raymond

my words are a predestined manifesto
not ones that were written in stars
ones that were carved in stone
by a woman on the homelands of lions and rhinos
begging the gods to protect
the future children of sand and stone
the ground rumbling with the threat of war


forgotten in a cave buried deep next to the core
bubbles the truth of those that sank
in ships named after the beautiful wives
of the ivory men that stole families in the middle of night


clasped chains around their necks
too tight to breathe but enough room to survive
dragged bleeding and crying
with the promise of torture or drowning


the story lives like a gene passed down
that curls our hair and flattens our noses
my words ring out as a call to the original prayer
divinely protect us as the ground rumbles
with the promise of extinction

Alexis Raymond

Alexis Raymond is a poet that writes to honor the minority experience in predominantly white spaces. A Stonecoast MFA candidate, she is also a journalist, and published short-story fiction writer. Her work can be found in Portland Monthly Magazine and The Elevation Review. She lives in Portland, Maine on Wabanaki Land.

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