![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/images\/Deep%20Creek.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This story poem is dedicated to my muse RLF<\/a> and her mother Ginny.<\/p>\n as I stand on what is known as I now will help you Chesapeake <\/em>Virginia <\/i><\/p>\n on this day such recollections let me stop here because of those like my muse yes\u2026. I want to do this all Image & Words by ~Keith Alan Hamilton~<\/p>\n This story poem will be a part of the May edition that’s a collaboration by the 2015 Poetry Posse – The Year of the Poet II published by Inner Child Press. Buy your monthly copy Here: http:\/\/www.innerchildpress.com\/the-year-of-the-poet.php<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This story poem is dedicated to my muse RLF and her mother Ginny. as I stand on what is known as Elizabeth\u2019s Dock\u2026.. just south of ~ the Deep Creek Lock a part of the Dismal Swamp Canal System called by some in times past\u2026. \u201cThe Ditches\u201d my muse walks along the dock … Continue reading “Deep Creek to Albemarle Sound”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,18,30,29,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-imagewords","category-rlf","category-slaveryinamerica","category-poertyposse2015","category-muse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3397,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions\/3397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithalanhamilton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nElizabeth\u2019s Dock\u2026.. just south of ~
\nthe Deep Creek Lock
\na part of the Dismal Swamp Canal System
\ncalled by some in times past\u2026. \u201cThe Ditches<\/em>\u201d
\nmy muse walks along the dock
\nbehind me
\nat times struggling
\nto keep her balance
\nfor reasons I won\u2019t disclose
\nabout her health
\nbut her efforts inspire me
\nthis little place ~
\nshe has honored me to visit
\nis the land of her roots
\nyou see\u2026.. Deep Creek
\nis where her mother
\nand her mother\u2019s family are from<\/p>\n
\nbetter understand
\nthe backdrop
\nthat frames the words
\nof this story poem
\nI emotively write\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n
\nas I look south towards
\nAlbemarle Sound in North Carolina
\nI notice the weathered handrail
\non the landside of the dock
\nthe big nails used to hold it together
\nare like a directional pointer
\nto the historical information\u2026\u2026
\na really dismal era
\nof my country\u2019s past
\nthe tannic colored waters of the canal
\nsymbolically stained
\nwith the blood ~
\nsweat
\nand tears
\nof my fellow humans
\nwhose evil experience
\nif evil is a definition of the heavens
\nthe wicked
\nand senseless defamation
\nimposed on our own species
\nto waller in the mud like pigs
\nup to their necks
\nto dig a so-called ditch
\none scoop at a time
\nwhere such mud was not washed off
\n\u2018cause they had no blankets
\nto keep them warm at night
\nin the horrid Dismal Swamp
\nor to keep the elements off from them
\nas described later
\nby the slave and canal boat handler
\nMoses Grandy
\nin his \u201cNarrative<\/em>
\n Of the Life Of<\/em>
\n Moses Grandy;<\/em>
\n Late A Slave<\/em>
\n In The<\/em>
\n United States Of America<\/em>\u201d
\nwhat a Man
\na Hell of a Human Being<\/em>
\nwho was ripped off
\nlied to
\nwhipped
\nwatched wife and children
\ntaken away
\nhad to pay for his freedom
\n3 times\u2026\u2026
\nbefore he was given it<\/p>\n
\nmake my knees feel weak
\nmake my stomach feel sick
\nI suddenly feel ashamed
\nfor being human
\nand yet
\nthe noble example
\nof the struggle of my muse
\nbehind me
\nkeeps me standing
\ninstills a will in me
\nto keep going
\nhave hope
\nin the human ability
\nof learning from our mistakes
\nto push on
\nfor the future of our children
\nand their children\u2019s children
\nregardless ~
\nthe color of their skin<\/p>\n
\nI need to make something clear
\nabout this place I stand
\ndespite the melancholy
\nthat surrounds its tannic
\nand dismal swamp past
\nthat past
\nis no longer its present\u2026..<\/p>\n
\nwhich started with her mother
\nand her mother\u2019s family
\nbefore her
\nI now see a beauty
\nbeholden
\nto the positive outlook
\nof the onlooker
\nand a canal
\nthat borders a swamp
\ncalled Dismal
\nI hope to travel
\nexplore its full landscape
\nfrom Deep Creek to Albemarle Sound
\nthe twists and turns
\nthe ditch leading to lake Drummond
\nand its waters that feed the canal
\nlearn more how the swamp
\nbecame part
\nof the Underground Railroad
\nwhen Robert Frost
\naimlessly wandered it
\n\u2018cause he was heartbroken
\nover a woman
\nhow it inspired
\nEdna Ferber to write Show Boat
\nby reliving the journey of ~
\nthe James Adams Floating Theater
\nback and forth
\nalong the Dismal Swamp Canal<\/p>\n
\nwith my muse some day
\nout of respect for her struggle
\nher mother
\nand her mother’s family
\nas well as those
\nmy fellow humans
\nthrough blood ~
\nsweat
\nand tears
\nwho built its past
\nand whose efforts
\nhave shaped its present<\/p>\n