Inside Us a Heaven



We have & hold worlds in the palms of our hands, 
reach out touching tomorrow's sands waters of 
time. We love or have loved with the lining of our 
souls, from once broken but healed places, ever 
teaching, leading & longing to give back ourselves. 
With us, no thing ends, is unobtainable, unachievable, 
undone. Nothing’s forever unknown.

Inside us a Heaven opens, a truth unveiled. There is a 
singing, a strong song lulling us through pain, fear 
& whatever shame a strong wind has blown down 
in us, religiously knowing all wisdom, all truth, all
understanding, always a redeeming love.

We have buried woes in plots of hope beneath old 
stones of expectation, bleeding & freely breeding new 
life from those pieces left behind. The universe has left 
us comforted by a joy that mourning brings, healed 
by a sad story spun to make us whole.

Copyrighted May 10, 2014 Latorial Faison
www.latorialfaison.com


Mama Home?

by Latorial Faison


I don’t want to lose sight of
the strong woman who was you
the pride you took in being hard working,
forever helping, not wasting a piece of food
anything homemade or handed down
how you kept a clean house
and ran a tight ship

how 4 o’clock felt like a new day
because you were home
talking to your inner circle about outer circles
cooking baked chicken, fried fish,
fruit cobbler or some other to-die-for dish
listening to you was like watching
Esther Rolle movie episodes, good times

like reading Hurston’s dialect-filled
oral histories, stories, and rhymes
you were a southern, female, blackness
that got real proper when strangers called
I hear you in new ringtones that ring like
old phones, in soft voices like your friend
Emma Lou’s asking, saying “Mama Home?”

I see you sitting there
half opened, half read Tidewater News
or Virginian Pilot in your tired hands
watching the 6 o’clock news
catching a nod or two
as 11 o’clock news watches you
in your favorite rocking chair


Copyrighted November 18, 2013 Latorial D. Faison

The Way You Were

by Latorial Faison

You were a light
shining
a star most brilliant
through the night
the journey incomplete
without loving
all around you
it was the way
your soul laughed
the way you dealt each card
played your hand
with pride
reached strongly
into frail pockets
to save
it was the way you were
never broken
but made whole


Copyrighted © November 12, 2013

Upon the Passing of a Matriarch



Swift and vibrant like the surprise of wind
Removing doubt and proceeding in
So wise, so sure, so confident, at ease
In your defining way, life’s fears relieved
Embracing life in every season
With care and regard for passion and reason
Unafraid, outspoken, ever so sure
Instinctively leading with a love so pure
Rendering to loved ones the best of you
In love, in spirit, and service too
No greater love, no greater heart
Than that of yours, a true matriarch
How grateful that in such cherished time
Life joined our hearts, this hope to find
This hope that binds and leads us on
This hope now come to lead thee home


Copyrighted 2013 Latorial D. Faison

www.latorialfaison.com

Just for Me


On my mind 
always
for you were there
for me 
never forgetting 
that life
the love
the lessons taught
the joy of 
Sunday meals
late night talks
and country folk 
mishaps and 
misfortunes
how you prayed 
for me to be
somebody's woman
late to bed
early to rise
your hands
hard at labor
kneading dough
turning wheels
cooking meals
for eating
for teaching
for me













A Dream Planted

by Latorial Faison

Little fair one
planted 
beyond the brink
of two country roads 
that crossed

With gathered strength 
you grew
not forgetting old dirt roads
or yielding fields
you once knew

Eyes wide open
you believed
what imaginings gave way to
in self-portraits 
and God’s eyes

Painting tapestries
of dreams
with colorful words and
worlds handed down

Embracing truth
predestined fruit
the totality of dreams
a few times 
deferred

It began with you
at the hands of you
the hands of those hands
that planted you

Never mind all the ways
roses grow or spray
keep standing
most useful
most beautiful
in full bloom


Copyrighted May 2012 Latorial D. Faison