Fern Metcalf
can you spare some CHANGE?
bright yellow changed black tar streets
in American cities while western forests
are changing from green to black.
drought, flood, bankruptcy, and starvation
is causing a not-so-great coyote driven migration
of Guatemalans with weak bones and bloated bellies.
and the storms keep on materializing out at sea with multiple
landfall destinations always threatening to morph into CAT5
cause tropical is not sexy enough.
12 months of isolation left some folks alive to tell tales
of cutting the cable cord and overdosing on streaming platforms
while slow cooking curried lamb necks in Vidalia onions and carrots.
right down the road from me, my grown ass child will be looking
forward to moving to another state for better opportunities and says
she is no longer code switching for anyone’s comfort.
Fern Metcalf is a poet and photographer. Fern was invited as a panel member and honoree for “Women in the Arts” by the Staten Island Women’s Political Caucus. She has had two solo photography exhibitions, “Cuba! …and its magic” at the Spotlight Gallery, Wagner College Campus, and most recently, “We The People: Black Indians in America” at Snug Harbor Newhouse Center on Staten Island. Reviews of her work have been featured in Huffington Post and the Staten Island Advance. She has participated in writing workshops in NYC, namely Cave Canem and Poets House. Her writing has appeared in the Staten Island Creative Community Quarterly Journal 2018, and she produced and edited "Kinky Reggae" a zine for ETG Café. She is currently working on a poetry manuscript that focuses on her photo exhibit and research about Black Indians in America and her own Chickasaw heritage entitled “Diggin’ Up Stuff In The Cornfield.”
