Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle Poems

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle Biography

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle is a California poet originally from North Carolina. Her poems have appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions including her 2006 solo show, 'Between Us.' In 2007, she released BLACK STREET, a spoken word CD. Her first full-length collection of poems, BLACK STREET: POEMS, was published by the UCSB Center for Black Studies Research(2009) . She is a former Advisory Editor for Sage Trail Poetry Magazine. She has published poems in journals, anthologies, and six chapbooks, which include COMMON ANCESTRY (Millie Grazie Press,1999) . In addition to writing several plays and stage productions, Rolle edited several small anthologies of her workshop participants' work including INNER SPACE (California Arts in Corrections,1988) and WOW (Women of Words) from the 1995 Yachats Literary Festival poetry workshop. She has been a regular contributor to AfriGeneas Magazine and InkByte. Rolle gives readings of her work, has appeared on panels, lectured, and conducted workshops for many years at universities, libraries, retreats, symposia, and festivals. She has been Writer-in-Residence at the Santa Barbara Public Library, at various schools in the Santa Barbara area and with the teen theater group, City At Peace. A founding member of the Santa Barbara Poetry Festival Committee, for the past fifteen years, has initiated and hosted regular poetry readings in Santa Barbara, including Poet's Night, Reds Hot Poetry, Open Mics, and (since 2002) her annual tribute to poet Langston Hughes. She is currently the organizer and host for the Poetry Zone.)

The Best Poem Of Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

To Thine Own Flame Be True

To Thine Own Flame Be True

There is a place in all our breasts
where we hold our truest treasures.
Our love for ourselves and for all of our kind
and the virtues by which we are measured.

We begin with the grain that continuously binds
We end with the wheat of our harvest.
We remember our sisters who emblazon our path;
whose flames burn throughout the forest.

Symbolic sisters envisioning their dreams.
Each striding forth from disparate abodes.
Each singing bravely her own heartsong.
Each stepping onto the grand road.

From each separate singing,
a separate choir petitioned.
Some sang for freedom from fear and oppression.
Some sang for equal conditions.

In each of their hearts no matter the verse,
a flame gleamed  glorious in hue
Its light on the land diminished the dark.
The dream of the women stood true.

That their brothers and sisters,
their dissidents and their esteemed
might mingle  touching shoulder to shoulder
and together walk into the stream.

Today we stand to remember our sisters
and the honor which to us they have given.

We see the stars, the trails they have blazed
the strength that  flows from their light.

We continue to sing the dissonant songs
Some want to be equal - some want to be free.

We continue toward the great promised state
We continue to carry the vision.

We continue to stride toward justice and peace
infusing the whole world with our mission.

We carry the torch in our common cache
Flaming  brilliantly blue on the path.

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