i am from the Appalachians
drive a pick-up truck
change my own oil
lift & carry my own baggage
drink straight bourbon whiskey
skinny-dip in deep fast mountain waters
sleep alone above the timberline
and cut my own wood
splitting logs with precision
and force
and i get tired of people tellin’ me
that i have balls
i have been strangled, stabbed, seduced,
raped-reduced, reclused, infused & excluded
stood through tornadoes, floods, hurricanes & heartbreaks
looked into the barrel of a .38 revolver
a .410 shotgun
and empty suit corporate firing squads
looked into eyes of trigger holders
watched shiny steel shiver in hands of
corroded corpses
as i told them every one
you cannot hurt me
i looked into their eyes
witnessed our histories converge
like the Tigres & Euphrates
dragging down sludge, slime & remnants
of 4,000 years of patriarchal battles
but we just keep coming back
Kill us again! Kill us again!
we will only come back stronger
like a river flowing with the blood you spilled,
rattling, rolling, swirling, swelling, burying & dredging up
wearin’ down stones & bones & remembered fear
knowing you cannot hurt us
and truth cannot hurt us
we will not be silenced by shame
you want us to feel for your violence
we will not be silenced by fear
of more violence
‘cause the end of our silence
is all that can end the violence
& we will not be silenced by shame!
i have heard the stories of my mothers
grandmothers, sisters & ancestors
and we are here together in this voice
right here right now to tell you
that you cannot hurt us anymore
and you can call that courage
and you can call it strength
you can call it honesty, faith, truth,
magic, karma, survival or love
but don’t tell me that i have balls
‘cause testosterone ain’t got nothin’ to do with it.
©1997 julia ann delbridge
julia ann delbridge is an Appalachian storyteller, 5 year veteran & active organizer of the National Poetry Slam, graduate of Radford University (BS & MA in English), and founder of Dragon's Breath Poetry and Santa Cruz Poetry Slam.
Her magical-realist poetry combines studies in Native American, Latin American, Appalachian and Irish oral traditions; Science and Technology studies (the history, philosophy & sociology of science); environmental preservation; natural history and non-violence activism in an earthy, humorous and accessible language with one primary goal -- healing. She will be reading excerpts from a history-alive presentation called Coal and Trains, an industrial human history of the Appalachians and the industrial mining of souls in poetry and traditional songs, in her tour across the country during July and August.
julia ann delbridge
dragon's breath poetry
831.763.2373
PO Box 2155
Santa Cruz, CA 95063
http://www.sixgallery.com/ontheroad/Santacruz.html