Melanie Henderson was born, raised and lives in Washington, DC. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University and studied poetry at the Voices Summer Writing Workshops (VONA). Her paintings, photography and poems have appeared in Drumvoices Revue, Fingernails across the Chalkboard: Poetry and Prose on HIV/AIDS from the Black Diaspora, jubilat, and Southern Women’s Review among others. She was selected as a featured reader for the 2009 Joaquin Miller Cabin Poetry Series and as a recipient of the Larry Neal Writers’ Award (DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities). She is the Managing Editor of Tidal Basin Review and the mother of a charming little boy. Her latest collection of poetry is titled Elegies for New York Avenue.

Source: Blog This Rock

BORN HOME


To begin at the beginning

& we are not from this place
We know the snow
doesn’t fall in January,

the gum of July doesn’t stick to the blood in our skin

& we are not from this place

We know the rows of dependent houses
liberated by separating hues of a president,
my alarm clock’s muteness, temporary

it’s arteries, a blazing blue; it’s 7:59

& we are not from this place

We know how to begin at the beginning
when a high school is just a high school
& our rhythm is not smart

and we are not from this place

We know the vacant eyes of our streets,

pots in the pavement sing

from this place we are from–

We know.