ABUNDANCE
A poem inspired by Moccasin Bend, written by Erika Roberts
The vein of the big tree gives life like an artery just as its underground arms reach to save.
Ocular proof of the time defying beauty that paints.
Communicating its message boldly with light.
It's Silent
The foliage signals the change.
Autumn's paint brush has a past.
Finding movement in their native
descent the leaves leave
creating a soft carpet of colors that feed the hungry soil.
It's Sacred.
A congregation of timbers sending Hallelujahs to the Heavens.
New Journey intertwined with roots from the stewards.
Reminding us of the protected connection.
Life under foot.
It's Secluded.
Their story, misunderstood.
The importance was ignored.
Health over dirt.
Healing from the Earth.
Missing the mark, the legacy is what's hurt.
Heart of the home is buried deep.
Above, the world moves about…
Sleep..walking through headlines.
Motives motivating meaningless moments.
Murky are those waters & vast are the empty promises.
The alarm clock of tainted privilege screams loudly disturbing progress.
It's Spiritual
Interpretation from afar.
Your highness.
Mountains glowing like crowns.
The color green was born here.
Organic Altar honoring the ancestors beneath the tapestry.
Textured is the pathway of the overlooked past that connects us to a silent love.
Violated memories made a victim of the land.
A symphony of emotions moving from the branches
down through the trunks.
Vibrating the ground into a relentless rhythm.
It's precious percussion drumming through time.
Its presence is full and felt internally.
We were led here by them.
The truth is here hanging from the trunk's canopy.
Love is here moving through the air.
We hear it now.
We honor it now.
Erika Roberts (photo by Chattanooga Design Studio)
Erika Roberts is a creative strategist, poet, and community healer using poetry to facilitate radical self-care within communities that have withstood generational and systemic traumas. Her leadership has transformed the way arts-based community engagements can impact civic and non-profit organizations such as The City of Chattanooga, The Hunter Museum of American Art, PopUp Project, CHI Memorial Hospital, Glass House Collective, Westside Evolves Project, Chattanooga Design Studio, Hamilton County Schools, and The United Way of Chattanooga. Erika has been commissioned to write original poetry and perform spoken word for multiple film projects, including the feature length documentary film The Light We Share that was produced by The PopUp Project in 2020/2021.
She currently sits on the boards of Arts in Health Council and The Chattanooga Public Library Foundation.
IG: @Velvetpoetry
FB: Velvet Poetry
