Of Their Own Time Immemorial
written by: Jackie Oldham
On the walls of caves,
Stick figures of people
Fending off, then herding
Animals;
In stone hieroglyphs
Adorning the walls of pyramids and
Sepulchers,
Temples and cathedrals,
Graveyards and mausoleums;
Honoring their living and their dead
Heroes and gods;
Neon lights on the sides of
Skyscrapers reaching up to the Heavens–
Eat at Joe’s
1 million served
Best hotel, apartment building,
Financial institution
In the city
In the nation
In the world
In the known universe.
Digital recordings of human endeavors
Flung out into the far reaches
Of the universe
Announcing our presence
To billions of stars
That shine their own brilliant reflections
Back at us.
Jackie Oldham (she/her) is a writer from Baltimore, Maryland. Her personal blog, baltimoreblackwoman (WordPress), about life, family, and events in her hometown, is in its 10th year. Since 2018, her focus has shifted to poetry. Her poems have been published in Global Poemic, Oddball Magazine, Rigorous, WOC This Way to Poetry, and Spillwords.com. Her first contribution to an anthology, "Ode to Lucille Clifton," was published in the book, A Fighting Place, A Loving Place, A Charmer: The Baltimore Anthology (Belt Publishing, Cleveland, OH, June 2022).
Latest posts by Jackie Oldham (see all)
- To Save This Broken House - December 9, 2024
- By Choice, I Live Alone - April 13, 2024
- All These Things Are Broken - August 17, 2022
