In Memoriam

Xennia Gittoes-Singh Long

February 8, 1948—October 7, 2009

Xennia Long, a.k.a. Running Waters was born in New York, lived in California for 23 years, and settled in Virginia. She was a wife, mother, and grandmother who began writing at the age of nine. Part Cherokee, French, African American and Irish, Xennia was a performance poet. Her book, To Be the Color Black, is a collection of poems that forces us to take a hard look at racism in America.

Freeshade

Stare out my window
stare at Freeshade
stare at auction block
see slaves, babies for sale
black men, black women at a discount
Freeshade has humans for sale.

Stare at Rappahannock
Stare at smooth water
Stare at the boats coming in
See the Indians watching from shore
wise men's prophesies fulfilled

Peopled killed at Mills Creek Landing
to make room for horses and cows
Mills Creek Landing left with horses standing
People gone who knows where

Stare at the woods
Stare at the fields
See the Red and Black People
running. . .
running from the man
who is white with greed

Xennia Long