Poetry from Leticia Garcia Bradford

 

March On

 

 

Millions march on Washington

taking buses buses and airplanes

Those who didn’t have the means

organized marches in their own backyard

From San Francisco to Oakland to Boston

In every state of the union

 

What are you marching for?

 

First time marchers

Veteran marchers

Women Men

boys girls

Pregnant mothers

Lesbian Gay

Bi Transgender

toddlers infants

Dogs and I wouldn’t be surprised, if a parrot or

two made an appearance perched on the shoulder

of a weathered activist

 

What are you marching for?

 

Some felt the scourge

of an ill-fitted president

Twitter

fly away hair & orange face

build a wall

take away our rights to healthcare

 

What are you marching for?

 

Indigenous people

long scarred

lost land

lost gravesites

lost identity

Segregated to be removed from site

But enough is enough

Now they want our water too?!

Follow the trail of tears

 

What are you marching for?

 

Planned Parenthood

My body is mine

You have no right

I determine my future

Another woman believes it is wrong

Sacrificing one life for the other

I may not believe in abortion

But I believe in your right to choose

 

What are you marching for?

 

You say I can’t marry

the love of my life

Committed to stand the test of time

Ministers of love

Commemorate our union

We want a legal bond

We want to be a family

 

What are you marching for?

 

No justice on the streets

leaves much to be desired

decades old strife

Guns face men women boys

taking their life

Who pays the price?

Black Lives Matter

All lives matter for you and me

 

What are we marching for?

 

Inclusion participation

reconciliation justification

decision resolution

gestation sanctification

Striving for a unity of heart across a country

 

March On

 

 

~ March 3, 2017

 

 

Leticia Garcia Bradford

© March 2017

 

  

Love Letter For Leonard Peltier

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

 

Feel the trembling of my heart

A continued voice heard in the wilderness

You have not been abandoned

You instill in the minds and hearts of the

People a hope of a better day

The earth shall rise again

Upon the footsteps of our heirs of birth

The mountains sing in our minds and ears

A joy of never ending new beginnings

Within a hand’s grasp

Muttering the words of worship

Sputtering the flame of the anointed

Calling to flesh and bone

Delivering in an unknown force

Only found in the sailing breeze

Moving towards the center that cannot hold

All the blessings rained down from heaven

Falling within reach

Bones rattling again

Clean of woes

Clean of death

 

~Doksha

  

 

Leticia Garcia Bradford

© January, 2018

 

 

ODE To Standing Rock, December 4, 2016

 

Rights to Water

The emphasis of life

What’s ours is yours

But not if you poison us

 

A nation of natives

Joined by a tribe of

Socially Conscientious Citizens

Guarding an indigenous people

 

Veterans gather from as

faraway as Hawaii

Water Rights Matter

Not just for the Sioux

 

A time of enough is enough

We want peace

We want a resolution

To protect our children’s children’s children

 

We sleep in peace tonight

Our collective voices have been Heard

 

 

Leticia Garcia Bradford

© December 2016

 

Leticia Garcia Bradford is a poet, playwright and publisher. In 2014 she founded B Street Writers Collective (BSWC), Hayward, CA- a community of writers both amateur and professional. Her poems and stories have been published in local and national journals. She edited BSWC’s anthology FLY WITH ME which she is, also, the publisher for MoonShine Star Co. BSWC’s new anthology WHAT IS LOVE debuted this spring. In 2017, Leticia toured around the entire SF Bay Area with her poetry and stories at open mics and readings featuring in San Francisco numerous times. Check out her blogs: MY NEW ADVENTURE, living without a place to call home at leticiagarciabradford.blogspot.com, and LETICIA’S BLOG at lgbradford.blogspot.com has her poems and other stories. Leticia’s website: bradford-productions.com