This is For Us All
We search for our lineage
same red flowing in veins
lions roaring flames before
we were tamed. Our seas
lose their calmness, peacefulness
turquoise bellies no longer pregnant
with seaweed but sienna stones remain
to remind us. We find our goddesses
with back bones. Yes, back bones soaked in bronze
fearless mothers feeding us, we eat from our yucca roots
and remedies swallowed below the moon growing
to make us stronger, to break down the walls
between us, turn our faces to see the world as it is
we find our goddesses prancing like peacocks in rain
with emerald eyes and feathers, salutations to the sun
we bow to our goddesses, slipping envelopes
under red doors. Our lineage, seven generations of loving
peacemaking, dancing, watching leaves turn gold.
Wishes of Goddesses
I wish for a song.
Do you know how to sing?
The way hummingbirds do
in my mind, with busy wings
on the other side of the windowpane.
I wish to wear a lavender night
gown. Do you know how to sew?
How to cut wild silk
without fringe floating in air
like godmother, hummed
when hemming?
I wish my fingers to reach the horizon.
Do you know how to dance?
To dance with abandon.
Lifting feet to twirl in cadence, listen
to silence, feel fingers of sun on skin.
I hunger for the body of a pineapple.
Do you know how to cook?
To fold herbs in bread? Marinate treasured
sea with soil, then kiss the hands that feed you?
Jerrice J Baptiste is an artist, poet, educator and author of nine books, Her watercolor drawings on paper have been accepted or forthcoming in MER, Synchronized Chaos, Saugerties Shout Out, Las Laguna Art Gallery exhibit in California, Spirit Fire Review, Jerry Jazz Musician Magazine. Jerrice has presented her art work at The Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, in June 2025. She’s been featured as a solo artist at the Cairo Public Library in Cairo NY, in an art exhibit at The Mountaintop Library in Tannersville NY in August-September 2025, and also a solo Exotic Birds Collection on January-February 2026 at Mountain Top Library, She participated in an art show called Shout Out Saugerties, NY. Her most recent poetry book Coral in The Diaspora is published by Abode Press (August 2024). She is well published in Artemis Journal, The Yale Review, Mantis and hundreds of others. Jerrice’s collaborative songwriting and poems are featured on the Grammy nominated album: Many Hands Family Music for Haiti. She teaches Authentic Poetry workshops in The Catskills, NY.
Jerrice captures seven generations of goddesses in her raw drawings and sublime poems!! They sing, they dance, they “marinate treasured/sea with soil…” Brava to Jerrice for her powerful, colorful artistry!
Thank you so very much Carolyn! I’m thrilled that you enjoyed my poems and drawings! Thanks for visiting Synchronized Chaos!
Best wishes
Jerrice
I am in awe pf Jerrice’s poetry. Her exquisite use of imagery allows the reader to be transported, to experience the world with her. I am rooting for emotionally and linguistically accessible poetry at this stage of my life and Jerrice accomplishes both. I am also moved by her artwork, so colorful and pleasing. Bravo!
Thank you so much Lia!
I appreciate your glowing comments of my artwork and poems!
Thanks for your heartfelt words!
Joy,
Jerrice
Beautiful lush poems, Jerrice! I adore these Goddess poems…they take me in and wrap themselves around me. Bravo!
Thanks so much Anya for your kind comment of my artwork and poems. Your support is remarkable. I appreciate it
Best wishes
Jerrice
Jerrice Baptiste is a unique, phenomenal and talented poet. Her poetry is something I completely consume and consumes me in a great way, not read. Her art and literature are not only an esthetic so pleasant, it’s lingually a pleasure to read. Her poetry not only moves me, it navigates me entirely. I’m cognitively transported to the very setting. I see, hear,feel, taste the very characters and environment in her story. She is a REAL poet indeed with a burning passion and desire for what she does with her craft of words.
WOW Thank you so much Tony for spending time with my poems and artwork in order to capture the essence of my art & me. Your words are a profound celebration of my inspiration. I’m very grateful for your remarkable words expressed here!
Best wishes
Jerrice
Compliments Jerrice ! Petit à petit tu arriveras au sommet de l’art .
Merci beaucoup Roodly pour feliciter avec moi. Je suis heureuse.
Avec appreciation
Jerrice
A gallery of rich cinematic glimpses of a space that exists within the imagination of a poet who cuts wild silk with back bones soaked in bronze and feeds us remedies to swallow below the moon… So many vivid snippets. And I love the Egyptian twins. Thank you, Jerrice, for a pleasant interlude on this sunny afternoon.
Thank you Stephen for such beautiful lush words about your experience of my poems and artwork. It’s so appreciated.
Best wishes
Jerrice
Love all you do in your poems & pictures! You put all your soul and love in everything you do! Keep up the great work! You have a beautiful soul Sister!
Thanks so much Cathy for your beautiful words of encouragement and praise! I am so grateful 🙏 warm wishes
Jerrice
Jerrice definitely as the soul of a poet Whether writing about emotions or an image or words capture it perfectly. Her words take you exactly where she wants you to go and make you feel exactly what she wants you to feel. It’s always an extra pleasure to hear her voice reading her poetry. Thank you for your poetry in the moments of peace they bring
Thanks so much Nicole for your remarkable words that celebrate my poems and artwork! It’s so appreciated.
Thanks for visiting Synchronized Chaos Magazine
Best wishes
Jerrice
Jerrice’s poems of the feminine, acknowledged and honored are rich with expressions of strength and elegance.
Earthly expressions like singing, sewing, dancing and cooking are in parallel with the ethereal expression within these same things.
Thank you Jerrice for your poems which are rich in the beauty of life before us and within us.
Thanks so much Amy! I’m grateful for your keen observation and appreciation of my poems read and listened to. It’s a pleasure to read your words!
Joy
Jerrice
Life’s true warriors always maintain a joyful mind
You are a warrior and bring joy
Thanks so much BA for seeing and speaking about inner strength and resilience. I’m so grateful for your joyful words.
Joy and gratitude
Jerrice
I love the Goddess poems! The paintings tell the story perfectly. I can picture singing and dancing. Very vivid descriptions.
Thanks so much Kathleen Jay for seeing clearly the vision of my poems and artwork.
Thanks for visiting Synchronized Chaos Magazine!
Best wishes
Jerrice
Both poems are full of vivid imagery, music, and heart. The artwork is a joy to view. Thank you, Jerrice.
Thanks so much Susan for your vibrant comment of both my poetry and artwork.
Thanks for visiting Synchronized Chaos Magazine
Best wishes
Jerrice
I always enjoy Jerrice’s whimsical paintings.I like how she dresses her subjects. Her poems call up images that delight and inspire! I
Thanks so much Barbara for sharing your enthusiasm about my poems and artwork.
Best wishes
Jerrice