2003 Langston Hughes Poetry Contest Winners

Adonde?
by Lisa Dandridge of New Orleans, LA

                                         Mindful of our ever present past
                                         Our future so consciously near.
                                         Where do we go from here? Adonde?

We have travailed and traveled
Sang in operatic soprano
Salty brow sweat like rain
In the fields of little gain.
We've invented, discovered
Been persecuted and uttered
Uttered beneath the worth of a - man.
Man, name
from 1/3 to slave to colored to negro
to black to African -American
What's next? Adonde?

                                         Is this a reflection of progression or
                                         Another gesture of oppression.
                                         Led media backwards.
                                         Being stripped of the dignity that
                                         Grandma birthed
                                         Trampling our dominion in the earth.

Yet, we rise, Adonde?
Elevate our minds
For we are a priesthood-kind
Strengthen our backs
That we may have opportunity not lack.
Walk in the ancestral purposed path
Set before us, and then we will know
Adonde! Selah

Back to Tom Dent Literary Festival, 2003