Ole Mammy, I'm Still Blue
Wander, Wanderer, Wander True
Click the link to The Top Pops moving song, "Ole Mammy Blue".
Wander, wander, wanderer true
I began looking as soon as one could see for you
Buses full of kids just like little me
Unloading children
Black as the night sea
Eyes looking down at the dry, cracked, dirt
White kids peeked from behind teacher's skirts
Desks rearranged
RULES were changed, no playdates,
Same food, different plates
Separate lunches
Same lines, different bunches
Too small to understand?
No, we knew this conniving plan
Madness was made by old men
Who swore to the red, white and blue
They told white people lies while we all watched the news
Vietnam live, tv trays with little pot pies
Little children listen to the whispers and cries
On the playground we mingled,
We met on the swings, we touched hands, skin and learned to sing
"You're pretty, your hair is the color of sand, you're so nice little "ma'am"
"Don't say that, never again! I am like you, always your friend!"
Wanderer, Wander, wanderer still
Life's a climb up a downward hill
Where are you friends from the merry-go-round, where are the people who let us all down?
Across the room I was pulled away, told to wait inside as you parted that day
End of school, Nashville sun, oh mammy, what have you done?
I never knew I wouldn't see you again
We were puppets of fools who built up this scam
DE-Segregation, a word we could not spell
We're still fighting for your daily hell
I live now in a faraway life; I'd still risk anything to lessen your strife.
Causes now, were causes then, oh my what I'd give to bring this to an end
Shootings, Shouting, Dying Alone
Black America is still my home.
My skin doesn't match but I was there when
We hugged one another proclaiming "we're best friends!"
We touched each other's hair and shared from the start, pulled off the labels cause we were smart.
It was supposed to be better, I am sorry it's not, my work to find you I have not forgotten.
Stupid haters that catered to leaders
Make believers, nothing was real then or now
We were not IN-TE-GRATED
We were used, smoked and baited
Put together like N'awlean's blues
Ole Mammy, Mammy blue
Little us, little you
~
In grade three, cutting out snowflakes for the Christmas tree
It was a sham, just like pot pies and Vietnam
I say your names in case you find me, Antoinnette, Joyce and tiny Sammy
May where you are be good for you
My little friends, I still love you true.
About the Creator
ROCK aka Andrea Polla (Simmons)
~ American feminist living in Sweden ~ SHE/HER
Admin. Vocal Social Society
Find me: @andreapolla63.bsky.social
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The Ritual of Winter Challenge Winners
Welcome to the Winners Announcement for The Ritual of Winter challenge. This prompt focused on winter rituals and the meaning that settles into them over time. The top pieces stay grounded in ordinary acts and repeated routines, letting winter shape the work through pace, attention, and restraint.
By Vocal Curation Team7 days ago in Resources
Comments (16)
Weeping for all the lost friendships and bonds that were shredded.
Gosh, this nearly made me cry! Such a wonderful piece! Thank you for sharing!
It is disheartening to see the lack of interest in their own futures but kids brought up on their phones have lost the ability for critical thinking. They have no idea. I hope you write more about those days and what it was like for you.
I must say, growing up in the 60's and 70's was one wild ride. I became an activist in the 80's and still can't grasp the youth who have given up and use their phones as pacifiers. We have the Greta Thunbergs´ and Climate Crisis activists but in regards to racism, it's still a fight. I just don't have the patience with anyone who is on the side of red. There is aplay of words in what I wrote using ole Mammy "Blue". For me it's a no choice shift we have to make, but I was an independent and Greenparty activist until the likes of Dump came along. Oh, don't get me started. Hold up your end brother!
Well-wrought! That song was awesome. Never heard it, but added to my playlist. Great vocal melodies and the drum run at the end was divine! The hippy movement and the civil rights movement were good in spirit but easily co-opted by the deep state tactics of saturating the youth with drugs and free love cults while infiltrating the protest movements with chaos agents and pitting them against each other. Once you realize Timothy Leary worked for the CIA, you have to ask: how many others? The 90s, oughts, and 2020s have seen the same tactics, but people keep believing the old lies. The answer, to my mind, is to reject group ideology altogether and embrace complete individuation. As a gen Xer, I can say the 90s was complete underground apathy. We tried to rally with the truther movement in the oughts, but it turned into an easily dismissable joke once the likes of Alex Jones and David Icke became prominent. This piece is heartfelt and genuine. Keep on truckin'!
So emotional. Like the words you used here.
Magnificently and poignantly written!!!❤️❤️💕
This is really well written, well done 😁👍🍁.
Beautiful and sad as has been said before , wonderful poem
Sad, and powerful, and beautiful all at once! 🩷 Amazing, just simply amazing. It captures just SO much! The song is such a great addition to reading it, adds an extra level! Also, the line about the merry go round, in relation to some of the themes, reminded me of a poem by Langston Hughes, 'Merry-Go-Round. It's one of my favourites. 🩷🩷
This was absolutely brill.
Awww, this was so wonderful and emotional! I loved it
This is sad and good. Great job.
Wow! Such history. Such sentiment. I'm old enough to remember ALL OF THIS. Well done.
Everyone needs friends like these ☺
This friendship is the true inspiration for my fictional characters in Chapters, "Old Enough; Surviving Summer".