First Generation Ghost

If you don’t see it, you don’t have to think about it.
Don’t think. That might remind you
of the world existing just outside the borders
of the manufactured frame you’ve been given.
The multi-hued world people like me live in.

Of course we’re still there,
inside your balance adjusted frame.
Otherworldly ghosts moving inside your scenes,
turning the smaller gears you’ve eschewed -
the gears that keep a pulse of a nation smooth.

Though my first cries were made on this soil,
I was reminded my place was with the ghosts.
“Be quiet, so you don’t scare people
With your arcane Latin tongue.”

So many hoops to jump through
to fit the definition of a woman of substance
yet feeling more insubstantial as I go through every one
to occupy a solid space in the world.

I’m too tired to jump them.
I reject being silent. I will tell my own stories.
Let people squirm when I write
the stories in my blood and sign my name
in letters larger than John Hancock’s.

The world may be unready for more ghost stories,
but I'm ready to tell them.


This poem was inspired by the prompt given over at Imaginary Gardens With Real Toads: On Poetry, Writing & Metaphor - Dreaming With Stacie. Stacie asked us to look around our environment and create a poem about something see/ hear/ smell using an extended metaphor. The Hamilton mix tape (as well as the Hamilton soundtrack) is on heavy rotation in my home and the song Immigrants (We Get the Job Done) had just come up in my music shuffle. The line "America's ghost writers" is still one of the most brilliant things I've ever heard, especially in the context of the song. It's hard for me not to feel inspired every time I hear it. So I didn't fight it and created this poem. 

45 comments:

  1. This is outstanding.

    I want to hear your stories. Your writing and voice are powerful.

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    1. Thank yo so much. I'm trying to make sure to leave time for telling them, because keeping them in just makes me twitchy.

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  2. I can see that fiery signature claiming stories that scream of truth of love of loss of life of death... of being. That kind of truth can't be quieted or diminished, not when it's part of the blood feeding the heart, morphing into ink, into words.

    This reads like a manifesto, and I love it.

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    1. Woot! I hadn't realized how much it did sound like one until I was completely done and re-read it. But I'm glad it worked out that way.

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  3. "The world may be unready for more ghost stories,
    but I'm ready to tell them."

    I love this ♥

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  4. I agree with Magaly! It does read like a manifesto, a declaration that you, too, in all your fabulousness deserve the space that you and your ancestors have carved into the world. And, you are not going to let anyone tell you different! You are a wonderful writer and I always look forward to your stories!

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    1. Aw! Thanks. That's one of the best compliments a writer can hear.

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  5. America is a country of immigrants and those that did not make it through Ellis Island were a total of 1 - 2%. Yes 250,000 didn't make it through... but 98 -99% did at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. That is amazing. Immigrants are what we are made of and it is what makes us strong. But the story of who and how is still on going... I love NYC and all the ethnic restaurants - had me chicken livers at an African restaurant and thought I had died and gone to heaven.

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    1. I've had a chance to visit NYC when I went up to see Magaly and yes, there's so much wild diversity there.

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  6. I want to read your ghost stories or any fountain of your style and creativity.

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  7. I reject being silent. I will tell my own stories.
    Let people squirm when I write

    One has to be daring and brave. Long spurned and knocked about the displaced and deprived have a lot of catching up to do! Very much so Rommy!

    Hank

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    1. We do, but I will take pleasure in running as best as I can.

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  8. Our allegiance as poets is with the dead, we really are ghost writers, echoing the voice balloons of what history said: And will not be silenced, nor vibe with the dread. I must be channeling "Hamilton" as you are, thanks for taking us there & reminding us we work a lonely aural stair down into the deeper America.

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    1. I like this aspect you've brought up as well, though it wasn't a focus when I was writing the piece.

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  9. The world may be unready for more ghost stories,
    but I'm ready to tell them.

    I love this! Beautifully haunting!💜

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  10. This brought to mind the Ghost Dancers of the Lakota and I think your Ghost metaphor is just as powerful and pertinent. Tell your stories and do what Ghosts are supposed to do. Scare the shit out of them. ;)

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    1. Ooh, that is another unintended angle in the piece, but yes, I can see that as well. *snicker* Tell them I shall.

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  11. Your opening line and stanza is brilliant, Rommy. Such a profound lead in and unique portrayal of the first generation ghost.

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    1. Thank you, though the imagery was definitely adapted from the song. It's been one of my favorites ever since the album came out.

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  12. Yes, tell your stories! Wonderfully affirming Poem!

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  13. Rommy - thank you for participating in my prompt! And what a powerful poem. Your stories are beautiful, complex and worthy of telling. I hope you will continue to share!

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  14. I like the way you have subtly intertwined history and current politics in you First Generation Ghost story. And I also agree that it sounds like a manifesto. Great lines:
    '... That might remind you
    of the world existing just outside the borders
    of the manufactured frame you’ve been given.
    The multi-hued world people like me live in.'
    and
    'The world may be unready for more ghost stories,
    but I'm ready to tell them.'

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    1. It's been hard not to have some of that creep into my writing, but I'm not fighting it when it happens.

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  15. I love the metaphor of that frame... and I just wonder who empty it will be without the vibrancy of colors just outside. A great manifesto.

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    1. It was a fun concept to play with, especially considering how important framing has become when people are relating information to others.

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  16. "Let people squirm when I write
    the stories in my blood and sign my name
    in letters larger than John Hancock’s."

    you go girl!!!

    much love...

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  17. You are an amazing writer! Very powerful!

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  18. Thank you so much for linking this gem to Prompt Nights, Rommy ❤️

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    1. LOL, with all the madness around the march on the weekend, it slipped my mind.

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  19. May you forever tell your own story :-)

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  20. Yes, please tell more ghost stories. Amazing writing and thought process in this!

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  21. Rommy, would you please email me at wildwoman2@shaw.ca ? have a question for you.......

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  22. Though you may tell those stories which are true, people will still asume it is fiction so you are quite safe...and your readers will love them.

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    1. Well, there's a blend of fact and fiction in my writings, and most times I enjoy playing in the world of possibilities fiction affords me. But as I said in an earlier comment, sometimes fact will creep in and I don't resist, especially if it makes the piece stronger. Thank you for your kind words.

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