Illustrations by Gregory Christie<\/p>\n
EDITORS NOTE: To celebrate the sustaining power of love, we asked Memphis author Alice Faye Duncan to share the story of Coretta Scott King and her loyalty to Martin Luther King Jr. Its a story she tells in her forthcoming 2023 book Corettas JourneyThe Life and Times of Coretta Scott King (Calkins Creek Press). Duncan sees their love as the perfect study in cosmic devotion.<\/p>\n
Few know Coretta Scott Kings journey from girlhood in Alabama to activist and prophet, speaking across the nation promoting nonviolence as a way of life. She challenged the Black civil rights patriarchy after Martin Luther Kings death. It was this fiery, unflappable, and resolute version of herself that captured Martins heart on their first date in Boston in 1951.<\/p>\n
As February is the month to extol love and Black history, I offer you ten Tanka poems. These spare verses recall 1955, the year Coretta and Martin were a young couple with a new baby in Montgomery, Alabama. Martin could not perceive that Montgomerys boycott was the start of a liberation movement and that Corettas parents, Obie and Bernice Scott, had raised a woman who was the perfect love to walk with him and hold his trembling hand on the battleground for freedom.<\/p>\n
Originating in Japan, Tanka poems include five lines with 31 syllables (5-7-5-7-7). I chose this simple form to make a complex love story accessible to readers across all levels of understanding. What did Gwendolyn Brooks say? Poetry is life distilled. And here is my distilled understanding of the greatest love story that continues to keep on giving.<\/p>\n
Coretta Scott King<\/p>\n
Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n
Venus and Saturn<\/p>\n
A convergence of planets<\/p>\n
A cosmic union of fate<\/p>\n
Coretta Scott King<\/p>\n
The songbird and preachers wife<\/p>\n
Dexter Baptist Church<\/p>\n
Dr. King preached like Moses<\/p>\n
Chattered Montgomery folks<\/p>\n
Rosa Parks rebelled<\/p>\n
A nonviolent activist<\/p>\n
Stubborn like granite<\/p>\n
Seamstress took a front bus seat<\/p>\n
Arrested for her protest<\/p>\n
Thick black clouds of change<\/p>\n
Swept across Montgomery<\/p>\n
Jim Crow squawked at death<\/p>\n
Black folks put on walking shoes<\/p>\n
Boycotted city buses<\/p>\n
Dr. King stood up<\/p>\n
Fanned the flames on Jim Crows pyre<\/p>\n
Fiery-tongued preacher<\/p>\n
Pretty wife and newborn child<\/p>\n
His family soon a target<\/p>\n
BOOM! Kings home was bombed<\/p>\n
The bus boycott carried on<\/p>\n
Fifty thousand strong<\/p>\n
Black maids walked in snow and rain<\/p>\n
December to December<\/p>\n
BOOM! Kings home was bombed<\/p>\n
Coretta and baby cried<\/p>\n
Martin grew fearful<\/p>\n
SaidGo to your fathers house<\/p>\n
Coretta refused to leave<\/p>\n
Obadiah Scott<\/p>\n
SaidCome home to Heiberger<\/p>\n
Coretta saidNO<\/p>\n
Venus and Saturn converged<\/p>\n
It was not a time to run<\/p>\n
Bernice understood<\/p>\n
Coretta was Obies seed<\/p>\n
Fireproof heart of faith<\/p>\n
Baptized in muddy waters<\/p>\n
A woman born for battle<\/p>\n
Coretta Scott King<\/p>\n
Venus and Saturn converged<\/p>\n
Two agents for change<\/p>\n
Marched down highways and bridges<\/p>\n
Singing We shall not be moved<\/p>\n
Alice Faye Duncan lives in Memphis and is a National Board educator who writes poetry and picture books for children to help them remember important, but forgotten moments from American history. Her newest titles include Opal Lee and What it Means To Be Free and EvictedThe Struggle for the Right to Vote. Free teacher guides for both books can be found at http:\/\/www.alicefayeduncan.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n See the article here:<\/p>\n Holding hands on the battleground of freedom - mlk50.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Illustrations by Gregory Christie EDITORS NOTE: To celebrate the sustaining power of love, we asked Memphis author Alice Faye Duncan to share the story of Coretta Scott King and her loyalty to Martin Luther King Jr. Continue reading