Friday from the Archives: “The Change; America, I Sing Back; Putting Up Beans; and Off-Season”
four poems by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke in NCLR 2020
Award-winning poet Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, of our Appalachian mountains, was interviewed for our 2020 “Expat Writers” feature. She graciously allowed us to reprint four of her published poems to accompany the piece. As we celebrate this weekend, let us remember, as Hedge Coke does, where we came from, as well as contemplate where we can go. Here is an excerpt from one of her poems:
America, I Sing Back
for Phil Young and my father, Robert Hedge Coke; for Whitman, and Hughes
America, I sing back. Sing back what sung you in.
Sing back the moment you cherished breath.
Sing you home into yourself and back to reason.
Before America began to sing, I sung her to sleep,
held her cradleboard, wept her into day.
My song gave her creation, prepared her delivery,
held her severed cord beautifully beaded.
My song helped her stand, held her hand for first steps,
nourished her very being, fed her, placed her three sisters strong.
My song comforted her as she battled my reason
broke my long held footing sure, as any child might do.
As she pushed herself away, forced me to remove myself,
as I cried this country, my song grew roses in each tear’s fall.
Read the rest on ProQuest and buy the entire 2020 issue.
