Queen
a poem by Tiffany Ginyard
Here Ye! Here Ye!
I present to thee
A love poem
For my mother,
my Queen.
You are my everything.
I owe you everything
I have.
For you I’d do anything.
Love, you’ve been a good steward
of my life. For that,
I cherish your life.
To me you’re royalty.
For that,
Forever stands my loyalty.
You mean the world to me.
You have made my life altogether lovely.
If I could
I would give you a crown, some diamonds, some pearls
But that wouldn’t be enough for you
Ma, because even more than that you deserve.
You’re my number one home girl.
The first to love me before
I even came into this world.
Queen,
I delight in every moment
I spend in the kingdom of your;
As long as you’re around
I’m content.
Thank you, Ma
For making your house a home.
For sacrificing, sometimes yielding life.
For unconditionally
loving me.
Your smile, so heavenly,
energizes me.
You’re so beautiful, Mommy.
You are my Queen.
A poem from “This Thing Called Life,” a collection
of poems by Tiffany C. Ginyard, copyright 2004
****************************************
By Micha Green
I’m convinced that Black women are God’s
greatest gift to the world- and I contend my mother
must be the special, sparkly bow on top of the
package. The Rev. Canon Paula E. Clark (Mommy),
walks in Dr. Maya Angelou’s phenomenal
womanhood; she travels the railroads of Harriet
Tubman; makes her voice heard even in spaces with
the fervor of Sojourner Truth when she asked, “Ain’t
I A Woman;” and is the magician from which my
Black Girl Magic was bestowed.
My favorite quote is from Ntozake Shange’s “For
Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When
the Rainbow Is Enuf.” Shange wrote, “i found god
in myself & i loved her/ i loved her fiercely.” When
I first read that play over a decade ago, I thought
about the shirt Mommy has donned for years that
reads, “God is not a boy’s name.”
Mommy lives every second of her life with the
recognition of the powerful God within and the
fierce love that she has for Her. My mom raised me
to walk fearlessly in this world, with a confidence
that my choices matter, my voice matters, my rights
matter, my life matters and the God within matters
and should be loved “fiercely.”
Everyday is Mother’s Day for me. I know the
God in me and I know the Paula in me- and both
surface FIERCELY anytime I’m about to forget the
power I possess. I was raised and am still nurtured
by the most amazing, loving, intelligent woman
I’ve ever known. The Rev. Canon Paula E. Clark,
Mommy, is my shero and superwoman and in the
greatest, eternal way- I love her fiercely.
