Harriet
Call her Moses, Conductor,
already Legend.
Call her Nurse attending to open wounds.
Call her Thief, Grand Larcener, absconding with
over 700 pieces of property
in the Combahee Ferry Raid.
Call her Union Scout, Spy, Ear Hustler,
Invisible Thorn to white male arrogance
refusing to see her or the threat.
Call her Map Maker. Call her Compass.
Call her North Star. Call her the Secret Way Home.
Call her the Hammer and the Finger on the gun.
The Powder. The Bullet between freedom and death.
Nickname her Minty, the Original Emancipator.
Call her by her one true name, Freedom Now or Else.
Copyright Credit: Frank X. Walker, "Harriet" from LOAD IN NINE TIMES: POEMS by Frank X. Walker. Copyright © 2024 by Frank X. Walker. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Source: LOAD IN NINE TIMES: POEMS (Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2024)