Allie
(To Alvinia Willett 1901- 1978)
She wasn’t the stoic Carib Queen
who died for her people
at the hand of Conquistadors.
She wasn’t the earthy “Mother Africa.
She wasn’t the protective Madonna
some black men desire.
She wasn’t the regal African Queen
nostalgic men wished their women to be.
She was Allie, the one who skirted and bent rules.
Born at the turn of century,
Allie was the fore-runner of bra-burners,
a spirit unconfined.
When her name rolled off people’s tongues,
mouths stretched and formed hard words.
Her world, a wrestlers’ ring,
she knew how to throw her weight around.
She didn’t cringe at men’s cutting words.
She was swift with her fists when crossed.
Many crumbled under her hands on ways.
Agatha Christie surfaced when Allie read detective novels.
A designer blossomed when she fashioned dresses.
Beethoven shuddered when she plunked on her old piano.
Her children, and grandchildren,
the dressmaker, the writer, the music-makers,
the healers, the teachers, independent thinkers,
share memories of Allie, the fierce lioness who often
roared and bared her claws.
Allie lost her legs to salt and sweet
and losing her independence
summoned Death to her rescue.
© 2006 Althea Romeo-Mark
My Mom is my Allie...:) She sounds like a strong, proud woman to me. Nice poem.
ReplyDeleteHi Althea
ReplyDeleteI stumbled across your website and found it fascinating. Alvinia Willett was my 1G -great grandmother (I thought her name was spelt Alvina??) I have printed the lovely poem "Allie" you wrote and kept it in my ancestry folder. In the poem you say that Allie "lost her legs to salt and sweet" - can you explain that?
Allie's mother, my 2G, was Elizabeth Anna Hendrickson, civil rights leader, can you tell me who your step grandfather ?Williams was? Also, do you have any photos of Allie, your mom Daisy, or Williams to share?
Arthur Merwin Williams.
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