“MICHIGAN: The Great Divide” © Denise Weaver Ross

 

                    Real Fortune

    A black woman is a different type of gem.
          She comes with a hieroglyphic smile
          and rocks to a different groove than
          what her pockets do.

          Fortunately, she is her own fortune teller
          and knows how valuable she is, and will
          tell you that you can’t put any amount of
          money on her honor or happiness.

          Even her voice is priceless.
          It is orchestrated poetry and should
          never be silenced. Now when she is
          not prophesying she is healing herself
          from carrying the weight and sins

          of her God, she is a clinician doing
           the most to Be the remedy to cure her
           demons and restore them back to
            angels when others couldn’t.
            And if anyone manages to
            change the course of events in
            her life, understand she is no one
            puppet and won’t be played as
          such so between her imagination
     and this universe she will have balance
                               or revenge.

 

Navah The Buddaphliii still strives to overcome the challenges of being a mother of five, poet, and author; to find the balance between raising a family, spending quality time with her life partner, father of her children. She is determined to continue being a slayer of stanzas and a provider for her family. Releasing her first book in 2021 called Black Cocaine and Colorless Butterflies.

Denise Weaver Ross moved to Albuquerque in 1996 with her late husband, an immigrant from Jamaica, and two young sons after spending a decade as a successful installation artist with shows in Boston, Chicago and New York. In 2001 she restarted her art career after her husband had died from complications of Sickle Cell Disease. She began creating large works on paper, five of which have been included in public art collections in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.