Tyné Angela Freeman is a student at Dartmouth College, pursuing a degree in Cultural Studies in the MALS (Master of Arts in Liberal Studies) program. Her research centers on music of the African continent and diaspora. Tyné is also a vocalist and composer. She has released four independent records, and has toured in the U.S. and internationally.
poetry
Overboard
Tyné Angela Freeman, Dartmouth College
I
This ship is lost at sea
We the People, trapped in transit
Time-traversing refugees
Dreams deferred, and then abandoned
Has the weight of this great nation
Forced your eyes toward the ground
Have you bent beneath the burden
Of this skin, this shameless brown
You walked alone in search of home
The journey wore you thin
Brother, I’ll reach overboard
And pull you safely in
II
A generation echoes
From the depths of ocean graves
Unnatural disaster
And we wonder who’s to blame
We share this sacred oxygen
We’re all trying to breathe
Hands lifted in surrender
To a ruthless, raging sea
You walked alone in search of home
The journey wore you thin
Brother, I’ll reach overboard
And pull you safely in
III
Neatly sectioned city blocks,
Triangles in the sea
This journey is amorphous,
Changing shape by century
Finally the compass found
We trace this chalk, our map
The shape of loss immeasurable
Now etched into our path
You walked alone in search of home
The journey wore you thin
Brother, I’ll reach overboard
And pull you safely in
IV
These shackles will be silhouettes,
The voyage soon will cease
Brother, take my hand
And Love will guide us through the deep
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