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MERGE LITERARY MAGAZINE
TWO POEMS

By Charlois Lumpkin
 
Kwansaba
for Lorraine Hansberry 1930 – 1965

 ​
Inhumed in Croton-on-Hudson near beloved
home dubbed “Chitterling Heights” feted Broadway royalty
of young, gifted and black fame found
leaven inside Langston’s poetic query about a
raisin in the sun.  She word spliced
life’s drama deferr’d dreams onto center stage
light hereto fore rift from our reality.
 

*First African-American female author/playwright to have a play (A Raisin in the Sun) performed on Broadway. 
 
 
Kwansaba
For Katherine Dunham 1909 – 2006

 
“Spiritual Mother of Haiti” held nature’s wind
ward passage dividin’ Haitian from Cuban made
for bloody poor “wet foot/dry foot”
policy.  Vodun goddess of protest put USA
through moral conch us cleanse. Fasting forty
seven days she became hunger artist for
cause greater than bread, butter or herself.
 

*Renowned ‘Matriarch of Black Dance’ was also human rights activist who at the age of eighty-three opposed the United States Repatriation Policy for Haitian Boat People.   
 

 

 
 



  • HOME ISSUE #3
  • Mission and Content
  • About US
  • POETRY AND PROSE
  • BLACK MUSIC PHOTO ESSAY
  • ESSAYS ARTICLES AND FICTION
  • VISUAL ART GALLERY
  • BIOGRAPHIES
  • SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
  • Support Merge Literary Magazine
  • ISSUE #2 CELEBRATING BLACK WOMEN
  • FEATURED WRITERS AND ARTISTS
  • MERGE LITERARY MAGAZINE PRINT EDITION
  • Mission and Content
  • About US
  • POETRY
  • ESSAYS ARTICLES AND FICTION
  • Multimedia Art Review
  • PHOTOGRAPHY CELEBRATING BLACK WOMEN
  • ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
  • WRITERS AND ARTISTS BIOS
  • SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
  • ISSUE #1 POLITICAL AFFAIRS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
    • Mission and Content
    • About US
    • POETRY
    • PROSE
    • ART ILLUSTRATION
    • ESSAYS AND PLAY
    • MULTI-MEDIA QUILT REVIEW
    • WRITERS AND ARTISTS BIOS
    • SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
    • Support Merge Literary Magazine