Hairitage
From wide-toothed combs
unfurls
our deep tradition
of curls
coiling upwards
towards astral deities.
Matriarchs of sacred geometries
tracing ancient angles
into our sun-kissed scalps
salving cries with songs and shea,
plaiting us thick legends and epics.
Ancestral roots resilient
our fingers move
with dynastic dexterity
through memory
ingrained
by loving motion.
Interwoven high
I invoke
the crowns
creating mine
ascending naturally
our springs,
eternal.
Lullabying: A Nautical Nocturna
Cradled by melodic notes,
babes set sail
in downy boats.
Songs of stars that twinkle bright
hush their gale
of cries at night.
Mother’s voice steers them abroad
waves that trail
to land of Nod.
Sea Dream
Led by the tide of dusk in bed
her head begins to sink
into oceans
of aqua waves
and caves of coral pink.
Asleep, her feet become one fin
a skin of glossy scales
she meets inside
this sea of Nod
a pod of humpback whales.
Join us! they sing, and so she swims
their hymns sailing through sky
she wonders if
their songs will reach
the beach she now lives by.
Under the moon she makes a wish
on starfish twinkling bright
to drift within
this dream again
when day gives way to night.
Candice M. Ralph is a literary artist, a travelling storyteller, and a literacy educator. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature from The University of Chicago and an MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from The New School. Currently, Candice is working in early childhood education and will soon be undertaking an English Teaching Assistantship in Taiwan as a Fulbright Grantee. She is also in the process of working with her literary agent on the publication of her first children's picture book. Follow her on Tumblr and Soundcloud.