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the meeting was lost but meaningful conversations found along the way held me under a canopy of green awning speaking on who we are and who we are meant to be

when we went to leave white bertha sputtered said her well went dry she cleared her throat a second time invited me to stay a while longer

as we sat together the wind whispered our memory of the night on the side track bertha hadn’t been there subarina was my girl then

but bertha listened

the wind danced with me calling out names of grandmothers i had not known it was a small death laughed the rain drops you didn’t know it would be your last time flying home

we sat with the words the rain laughing and slobbering on bertha who sheltered me but held me there

and all you could think about was flying home the rain laughed again stay a moment longer bertha rumbled when i pressed her again now is the time to dream home is calling stay to listen

wanda is cooking feeding hearts and filling souls stay and be fed what are you bringing i finger bertha’s dangling fob and listen before asking her to take me home again

this time white bertha is ready and she purrs her acquiescence to my request the wind who had been still until then content to dance with the rain hugs me and writes me a poem to depart with

-it is only natural that you return here seeking to find the valuable thing lost that night  the eagle was your watchman and your guide now you are alive flying home

C.Mc. -2018

Literary Editor

Casey McLerran is the Literary Editor at the Black Wall Street Times. She is a Sooner State transplant from Forest Hills, NY. McLerran arrived in Oklahoma at the age of three shortly after gentrification displaced her and her family out of their home in New York. At first glance, many think they have McLerran figured out. To be frank, she’s a biracial American young woman that unapologetically embraces her half-African identity — a feminist-womanist she is. Her pen operates as her voice as well as her sword. Her accolades include the 2018 Rural Oklahoma Poetry Museum’s Oklahoma Poem Award, a business management degree, and her three beautiful children. Her objective with the Black Wall Street Times is to elevate and amplify the literary art of modern black American culture, pay tribute to African-American literary trailblazers, all while simultaneously linking and introducing children to the world of colorful American writers.