Two Poems by Tamarah Rockwood

A Voice in a Crowd

I held her hand because she was seven
And our family had walked
To the baseball stadium and,
Together, we were walking home.

There is a ferry we take to reach our home,
And I held my daughter’s hand
Because she was seven
And we were surrounded by a noisy crowd.

Thousands of shoes clacked on the metal planks.
Chatter echoed off of the walkway walls.
Conversations about the fumble
In the 4th inning — stuff like that.

Noise. Ferry engines. Rolling luggage.
Feet. Loud earbuds. Chewing.
Overhead announcements.
And, still, I heard the voice

Of the older man who walked
Next to me as I was holding
My daughter’s hand because
She was seven, and she was small.

And, still, I heard his voice —
And, still, I can hear his voice —
Tell my daughter, in the crowd
When she was seven —

I heard his voice tell her
That she was very pretty
And that she should go home
With him, instead.

And then he smiled at me.
As if he knew that one day
She would not be seven,
And I would not be holding her hand.

*

KKK in Indiana

In an incognito tab on my browser
I googled his name. I just wanted to know.
See, I was reading Gone With the Wind,
And I (honestly) didn’t know Ashley was in the Klan.
Which led me to Birth of a Nation.
This led me to wonder where the Klan resurrected
After its brief death in Georgia.
Turns out, it resurfaced in Indiana with vigor.
And then I realized that I had extended family there.
There is a farm in southern Indiana that was built
With funds from the Union; and then,
There were years of Masons and other
Gentleman society clubs – which is how Margaret Mitchell put it.
This led me to wonder if he had ties with them;
And then I wondered what my grandchildren
Will google about me,
Living in the time
that I am in.

*

Tamarah Rockwood graduated from Harvard in 2020 and has had many publications including short stories, screenwriting, and poetry in the University of Canberra Vice Chancellor’s International Poetry Prize, among other published poetry. She is the CEO of Bainbridge Island Press’s publishing house, which publishes poetry chapbooks, collections, and anthologies. Rockwood is the manager of Ars Poetica in Washington state. Other than writing, she the former Wine Committee Chairwoman for the Rainier Club in Seattle; now the current Literary Committee Chairwoman. Along with living the literary life, she tends a small plump of ducks on Bainbridge Island with her husband of 20+ years, Ben, and their 5 children. She enjoys reading literature, she does not enjoy reading YA literature, she is in love with 1930-1950 movies from TCM, and, despite living in a PNW forest, she is not keen on long hiking.