"Passing Down" By Gayle Ledbetter Newby

Hits me in the face--

fist pounding rock,

black, fading statue,

waving Southern flag,

See,

my ancestors fought at Shiloh,

Chickamauga, Vicksburg. Buried

flesh at Easton, memoried countless

squares.

I know how we got here;

But, I wonder how we leave.

How we exit…….

this grinding, weeping place?

---

Gayle Ledbetter Newby has worked as a teacher, librarian, and as a social worker.  She has been published in decomP, Gravel, the Hiram Poetry Review, Literary Orphans, The Santa Fe Literary Journal and others.  Her chapbook "Once Appointed" ( Plan B Press) is due out this fall.  Gayle divides her time between Arkansas and Mississippi.