Two Poems

by Sister Lou Ella Hickman

Sister Lou Ella Hickman, OVISS is a former teacher and librarian whose writings have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. Press 53 published her first book of poetry in 2015 entitled she: robed and wordless. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2017 and in 2020.   James Lee III composed “Chavah’s Daughters Speak” for a concert held on May 11, 2021, at 92Y in New York City for five poems from her book.  Another concert was held in Cleveland, Ohio on March 28, 2023, sponsored by the Cleveland Chamber Music Society.    

the secret she shared: the invisible child speaks

                      you did not yank out my heart

                      whole, throbbing

                      wet with life

 where it dripped

                      on the altar of your blame and anger

                         no  all you used was a small hook

                      to draw out thread by scarlet thread

                   like a woman who quietly crochets  

                      then you put it in your sewing basket

 to hide in a cabinet . . .

 then you locked the door of my strangled emptiness

                      that became a dark and forbidden space

in honor of all human sex trafficking victims: hope

                     after all my efforts to find words for this poem

                     had collapsed

                     i discovered there are no words worthy

                     to speak of and for you

                     of your costly pain and soul death

                     clichés like evil  hell  darkness despair

                     fail you

                     and words fail as well to speak of my own smallness

                     yet

                     this is the hope i breathe for each of you—

                     the only one i can give

                     are the small acts the small possibles

                     of what i can do each day

                     and

perhaps one of them

could be the key to set you free