Excerpts from “God Speaks Through Wombs” by Drew Jackson

O Little Town
Luke 2:4-7

This city,
more like a little town,
has legacies of royal crowns.

This town,
closer to a village,
always and forever pillaged.

This village,
surrounded by settlements,
will boast of things heaven sent.

O little town
don’t tear us down.
We need room to birth our children.

Where Lambs Feed
Luke 2:6-7

This moment is singular.
A blank space.    A blank slate,

before the world has its chance
to mark you,
scar you
with harsh words.

What locution will I utter
as your initiation
into this world of
sentence and syllable?

I think I will sing again.
A lullaby this time.
And this is the lesson
I will teach you:

Even revolutionaries
must know when
the time is right
to sing softly.

We Gon’ Be Alright
Luke 2:25-35

It’s been a long time comin’.
I don’t know how many years
and days I’ve been waitin’ for
change. I’ve been playin’
Sam’s song for far too long,
but I’m still holdin’ on.

I saw a young man today. Not
even a young man, a baby boy.
And in that baby’s cries I heard
rise the voices of future generations
singin’ their song
that went somethin’ like:

We gon’ be alright!

And I believe it
because I have seen it.