We come from the rich sandy soil of South Carolina
Carrying a grain of hope and the mustard-seed faith
From the heights of Rocky Mount, North Carolina
We look out at our possibilities not the hills to climb
From Virginia’s beaches we may have started but
The sun has made our skin and spirits mahogany
In Maryland a land of un-merriment
We celebrate our hero and shero Douglass and Harriet
Not even the debtor Province of Georgia or culled-out WV
Could steal away our Manifest Destiny—Liberty
We journeyed from and then back to Alabama
Crossing more than just bridges—we thundered
Like the trials and tribulations that are tributaries
That pour and overflow into the Mississippi delta
In our ole Kentucky home we were doormats and now
Doors flap wildly, opened by the winds of change
We be the volunteer spirit of Tennessee kinfolks
Who battled New Orleans and then our own ordeals
The Louisiana Bayou could not swamp us, could
Not flood our ambition or diminish our appetite
We are Floridians who drank from the fountain
At the Well of Optimism that springs eternal
Underground and Abolitionist we made our way thru DE,
PA, NJ, NY, CT MA, RI, VT, NH, ME always moving up
We tinted not tainted the land with magnificent hue
Made Texas brown, California more bronze than gold
Unwelcomed we made Ohio greet us with its mere name
Oklahoma came to recognize us sooner not later
We showed MO made our way to MI rediscovered
Illinois after finding it again like the blues in WI eyes
Hear our songs and hymns echoing in the Arkansas Ozarks
Reverberating and rumbling up to Kansas and Indiana
We are emboldened and embroidered into the fabric as we
Trail the tapestry of IW, SD, ND, MT, ID, OR, WA state
In the land of the Latter-day saints Utah turned the corner
Met Arizona, touched Colorado and New Mexico—we are
We are the wide open spaces of Wyoming’s big skies
The plains of Nevada and the husk of Nebraska maize
We have conquered the cold of Minnesota and Alaska
We are the culmination of a dream born in Hawaii
Kissed by Kenya and living in Washington, D.C.
We come from the bite of the seemingly toothless
—
Elijah Pringle III is a Philadelphia-born multidisciplinary artist whose work spans radio, television, stage, and film. Deeply connected to spoken word traditions, he brings a rich background as a dancer, choreographer, actor, director, and vocalist. Formerly a host of “Who Do You Love?”, a talk show on PhillyCAM, he currently serves as an advisor for Moonstone Arts Center. His poetry has been featured in various anthologies including Black Fire―This Time (Aquarius Press/Willow Books, 2024) and Moonstone Arts Center’s 25th Poetry Ink Anthology (Moonstone Press, 2021), as well as Compagnia de’ Colombari’s touring hybrid project Whitman on Walls! (WoW!) where local poets and musicians respond to Walt Whitman’s work. Elijah draws inspiration from his failures and credits his true education to five generations of teachers, whose wisdom continues to shape his voice and vision.
