Gift Poem by Claude H Oliver II

Unwanted in their motherland
Enslaved in their new home
Voice subtracted
Culture redacted
Families impacted
Labor extracted.

Yet from this concocted human hell
America’s voice came forth
Sad and happy
Tender and fierce
Heart and gut wrenching
A gift from within
Unasked for yet offered freely
Spirituals, ragtime, blues, jazz, boogie,
Gospel, hip-hop, rhythm and blues
The voice and heartbeat of a nation
The voice and heartbeat of freedom.