"God Was Willing Sis: I'm Home" by Mona Lisa Saloy

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September 14, 2022 

God Was Willing Sis: I’m Home

Mona Lisa Saloy

Rebuilt our little shotgun house
Daddy bought for $2000 on the G.I. Bill 
Post-WWII in the 7th Ward.
Wide enough to love two families at a time, double,
Long & wide like a bulldog, stocky with a sturdy gait
Seemingly indestructible
With turn-of-the-century
Plaster & lath between walls held by red-brick fireplaces
Anchors for kin to hold on to
Steady, outlasting many storms
From Betsy to Camille, hurricanes that came &
Went like occasional visitors who
Overstay their welcome.
Here, we saved every book we ever had from
Old Bibles listing births, marriages, Deaths, to 
Sherlock Holmes & Harvard Classics,
Two dictionaries American Heritage & Webster’s, plus 
The American Peoples Encyclopedia,
That answered questions Daddy or Mother couldn’t from newspapers:
The States Item, but especially
The Louisiana Weekly
Where Negroes had starring roles as newly married or
Debuted, or swimmers medaled in photos with their
Part-time coaches, who were full-time teachers like 
Vic Vavassaur, with their own kids too
Who spent summers, Saturdays & after-school time 
Teaching us regulation sports from
Baseball, football, swimming to supervised play, where
We were all a team, & neighbors &
Grudges never lasted more than an hour or
No longer than a busted 
Lip that’s gone when the swelling fades &
Heals like our sunburns &
Summers between thundershowers
We see coming blocks away
Our shot-gun castle
Our guardian of refuge from those
Jim Crow days in our 7th Ward Neighborhood
When we had all we needed for comfort, & summer fun of 
Shaved ice or hucklebucks, &
Winters without cold &
No gunshots.

Copyright © 2022 by Mona Lisa Saloy. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 14, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.

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“My trifecta: 1. Celebrates my dear sister, to whom I owe so much; 2. Celebrates my dear dad, who gave us our home, our love of reading and writing, and our land, at a time when too many Negroes’ only land was in a potted plant; 3. Acknowledges it took sixteen moves in fourteen-and-a-half years and twelve different addresses to finally land a home, having rebuilt after losing everything in post-Katrina flooding. Like many, such loss post-disaster is all-consuming, trying, and, with faith in God, a relief and thanksgiving. I hope this poem pays homage to some of this.”
Mona Lisa Saloy

Mona Lisa Saloy is a Black American poet and the author of Black Creole Chronicles (University of New Orleans Press, 2023), among other titles. She is the 2021–23 poet laureate of Louisiana, where she lives.

Black Creole Chronicles
(University of New Orleans Press, 2023)

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