Echoes Of Life... Poem by Almedia Knight-Oliver

Strong waves and contractions sent me twisting and turning down the canal pushing me out on my own.

This day forward I cherish much…even though vicissitudes bouncing me up and down; my mind spiraling out of control three scores, and more years. Yet, still feeling
pretty good about the place I’m in. An understanding. And acknowledging.

I’m full-grown. Still am free. Leisurely moving in unbounded space knowing it’s
enough for me to feel, and hear and see and taste.
In high-spirit holding tight each today’s exultant joy.
Knowing depression crouches in grass lying in wait for a prey

Cause and effects, affect the course of time.
That time I had to take the grassy paths less or more traveled
and walking in the company with perennial groans and moans.
Dare I say: a well-traveled woman began way back when
portions of youth spent in rustic rolling farmlands
roaming over fields on a Mississippi farm
running fast, leaving black coach whip
up on its tail looking all around.
Never believing that such a thing could be done,
momma took the puzzlement to her final resting ground.

Still her errant child stays like the god of the sea, moving and
changing with no one holding her down. She has to BE!
Another unforgettable mishap when a chap:
wandered into muddy water dotted with all sort of greens.
Heard a hissing sound and turned around. Looked dead in
two beady-eyes of a cottonmouth moccasin snake!

Left in haste, my killdeer legs and bare feet spiked
with pine cone thorns deep into my feet
I dared tell mom, then not
the norm to keep adventure in mind
and handed Momma my behind.
These bold undertakings are only pieces of my teenage years,
many more things mind wavers still:
Graduated high school and thinking it was good polish for a shiny urbane life style:
New York, New York- shinola too tuff to buff the time and grime of prime
I'd traveled on only gravel and dirt roads not farther than could walk.
Momma desiring the best sent me away, leaving time to test.
New York was “BIG Momma” and my home to
crawl and stand on my own
Joy and mirth, trials and errors in various forms birthed:
One baby, two, three, and four
Educated mind a little at a time
Educated children right on time
two and half decades mommy and daddy
were left home alone.
Several years later daddy left home leaving
His ghost to comfort Momma's cries
while, giving new birth to another time.