Marilyn Nelson

"Marilyn Nelson was born in Cleveland, Ohio, into a military family: she is the daughter of one of the last of the Tuskegee Airmen. Her mother was a teacher. [...] An accomplished poet and translator, Nelson has also written numerous books for children and young adults. She is a three-time finalist for the National Book Award, winner of the Robert Frost medal, and the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and Guggenheim Foundation, among other honors."

The Century Quilt

for Sarah Mary Taylor, Quilter

My sister and I were in love

with Meema’ s Indian blanket.

We fell asleep under army green issued to Daddy by Supply.

When Meema came to live with us

she brought her medicines, her cane,

and the blanket I found on my sister’s bed

the last time I visited her.

I remembered how I’d planned to inherit

that blanket, how we used to wrap ourselves

at play in its folds and be chieftains

and princesses.

Now I’ve found a quilt

I’d like to die under;

Six Van Dyke brown squares,

two white ones, and one square

the yellowbrown of Mama’s cheeks.

Each square holds a sweet gum leaf

whose fingers I imagine

would caress me into the silence.

I think I’d have good dreams

for a hundred years under this quilt,

as Meema must have, under her blanket,

dreamed she was a girl again in Kentucky

among her yellow sisters,

their grandfather’s white family

nodding at them when they met.

When their father came home from his store

they cranked up the pianola

and all of the beautiful sisters

giggled and danced.

She must have dreamed about Mama

when the dancing was over:

a lanky girl trailing after her father

through his Oklahoma field.

Perhaps under this quilt

I’d dream of myself,

of my childhood of miracles,

of my father’s burnt umber pride,

my mother’s ochre gentleness.

Within the dream of myself

perhaps I’d meet my son

or my other child, as yet unconceived.

I’d call it The Century Quilt,

after its pattern of leaves.

from Mama's Promises (1985)

From How I Discovered Poetry (Dial Books, 2014)